


Watch the Flames Burn Auburn on the Mountainside

by bette (ferns)



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Adorable Cisco Ramon, Barry Allen has Panic Attacks, Basically Follows the Plot, Because I Couldn't Resist, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Cisco adopts dragons, Cisco is an Adorable Muffin Child, Crack Treated Seriously, Dragons, Eiling Deserves to be Eaten by Dragons, Fluffy and sometimes angsty, Gen, Hartley is an emotionally guarded potato, Hurt/Comfort, I Blame Tumblr, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, This is the longest thing I've ever written, Very Very Seriously, What Was I Thinking?, fun fun fun, oh look it has a plot, that's it that's the fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-05-23 13:24:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 88,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6117796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ferns/pseuds/bette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Honestly, with all of the metahuman weirdness in the city, it's surprising that they hadn't seen something like this coming.</p><p>But really, dragons? Not even, like, metahuman animals?</p><p>Out of all the animals that Cisco <em>could</em> have adopted, he had to find five baby dragons and take them in.</p><p>How did this happen again?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dragons Do Not Belong in Cardboard Boxes

**Author's Note:**

> I have no one to blame for this but myself. And Hedgi. Hedgi is an _enabler._

Cisco Ramon was walking back to his apartment in the drizzling rain when he heard the rustling coming from inside of a small cardboard box and immediately stopped in his tracks. He assumed that it was a cat or something (hopefully not a rat), which was confirmed after it made a small mewling sound and rustled again. Frowning, Cisco crouched down and peeled back the wet cardboard. What kind of heartless person abandoned an innocent cat in an alleyway- _ hijos de puta! _

He fell back, arms pinwheeling, when he came face-to-face with the creature inside of the box. Which was definitely  _ not  _ a cat.

It had a pointed… Muzzle, snout, beak? Whatever was on the end of its face. Its body was covered in smooth-looking scales (were they scales?) that were a dark grey color through the dim light of the streetlamps and probably whatever dirt was coating it. Up on its back, just behind its front legs, were a pair of spindly wings that were more batlike than birdlike, only the ‘fingers’ had the same scaling as the rest of the body. A thin reptilian tail tapped against the side of the box.

And against the side of the four  _ other  _ creatures that were also, incidentally, in the box.

Holy crap.

Cisco reached out carefully towards it, pretending that it was like a cat or something, because while usually he would just be able to google ‘how to take care of a feral cat’ there was no way that he could do that for… Dragons? Was that what these were? Screw it, he was calling them dragons anyways, and they were  _ his  _ dragons now.

This was basically everything preteen him (okay, not  _ just _ preteen him) had ever wanted, anyways.

* * *

Getting all of the dragons back to his apartment was actually pretty easy. They were only about the size of large squirrels, and the box was easily big enough for him to carry. And even though his apartment didn’t allow pets, there was no way that anyone was going to call him out for having a box full of dirty dragons. Which sounded like a euphemism. (It wasn’t.)

One of them was much smaller than the others, and it kept getting pushed to the bottom. Cisco almost scooped it out before realizing that it probably wasn’t the best idea to reach into a box full of dragons before he knew how sharp their teeth were. Then he did it anyways, making sure to only pick up the dragon at the bottom of the pile. It squirmed before hooking its claws into his shirtsleeve and scrambling up onto his shoulder to perch there like an oddly-shaped bird.

Cisco was glad that none of his neighbors were walking up the stairs as he climbed them, dragon on his shoulder and four more in his wet cardboard box.

As soon as he opened his door after juggling box, key, and loose shoulder dragon, the box broke open, sending all four dragons (dragonlets? There  _ had  _ to be a name for a baby dragon out there somewhere on the internet, right? In most movies it was just hatchling or chick) tumbling onto the floor. They peeped loudly and spun in circles, blinking at everything. They also got mud everywhere, which was going to be fun to clean up.

He should probably wash them.

Cisco herded the four dragonlets(?) that were by his feet towards his bathroom, before hastily scooping them up and then putting them back down in the small tub. He tugged his shoulder dragon (who desperately needed a name) off too, setting it-him? Her? How could he tell?-down in the bathtub as well.

Then it fully sank in that he had just adopted five baby dragons and called Caitlin to ask what dragons were supposed to eat. She knew these kinds of things.

* * *

Barry woke up to seven missed calls, four from Cisco and three from Caitlin. The only one of Cisco’s that he listened to was just the engineer repeated “Dragons!” over and over again in an excited voice until the message ended, while the one from Caitlin was simply a resigned tone telling him that there was at least one dragon at STAR Labs and could he get there as fast as possible, please?

Okay then.

When he arrived at STAR (after checking to make sure that he wasn’t desperately needed at work so that Singh wouldn’t literally devour him) he wasn’t expecting actual, literal dragons. Barry assumed that it was another metahuman, maybe one that looked like a dragon or had dragon-like powers.

He was not expecting to see Cisco sitting on the floor in the middle of the room with a huge grin on his face, four creatures that were undeniably dragons crawling up and down his body and clinging to his arms. Caitlin was pushing supplies and papers out of the way, while a fifth dragon nipped at her heels and clawed at the leg of her pants. Wells was watching the proceedings with his hands folded in his lap, studying them with curiosity. As Barry watched, one of the dragons jumped out of Cisco’s lap and bounded across the floor, skidding to a halt in front of the scientist’s wheelchair and trying to bite his shoes. Cisco tapped the floor with his knuckles and clicked his tongue.

“Hey, Vermithrax, come on. We don’t eat Dr. Wells’s shoes.”

Vermithrax ignored him, and Wells reached down and lifted him up by the base of his (her?) neck. The creature’s little legs pawed at the air and a small tendril of smoke lifted up from its nostrils.

“Um, what’s going on?” Barry asked, leaning back automatically when the dragon on Cisco’s shoulder tilted its head and looked at him.

Cisco beamed at him, stroking one of the dragons (the one that was clinging to his arm) on its back, just between its wings. It made a loud trilling sound and wriggled. “I found them in a box on my way home last night. Aren’t they awesome?”

The fire engine red dragon that was playing with his shoelaces suddenly bolted away, charging right into Barry’s legs. He picked it up the same way that you would pick up a cat, marvelling at how warm the scales were. “Who would abandon a bunch of baby dragons?”

“I know, right?” Cisco agreed. “The one that you’re holding is named Smaug, the one by Wells is Vermithrax, the precious baby with Caitlin is Saphira, the one in my lap is Mushu, and this little guy or gal”-he patted the one on his shoulder, who chirped happily-“is Griffin.”

“He named them all after dragons from movies,” Caitlin supplied, sighing and picking up Saphira when the little blue dragon got its claws hooked on the hem of her pants. “Don’t do that, you’ll hurt yourself.”

“We’re going to need to feed them something,” Wells said, putting the dragon that he was still holding, Vermithrax, down in his lap. It was the one with the darkest scales out of all of them, dark grey with a row of small black spines down its back. The black horns were twisted slightly, as were those of Smaug and Mushu. Griffin and Saphira’s horns, however, were completely straight.

“Cat food would probably work the best, right?” Cisco said thoughtfully. “I mean, they’ve got, like, cat teeth, so they eat meat.” Griffin, who was still on his shoulder,  _ churred _ their agreement. Their scales were dark gold and caramel colored, with an odd darker tint like beer through a glass. Cisco rubbed their snout affectionately. “See? Grif agrees with me. Don’t you baby?”

“How big do you think they’re going to be?” Caitlin asked, cradling Saphira in her arms, whose bright crystal blue eyes were closed in contentment.

“On a scale of cat to velociraptor, or large dog to t-rex?” Cisco asked, picking up Mushu as he stood up while Griffin stayed balanced on his shoulder with ease, tail flicking. “I have no idea.”

Smaug  _ hurrped  _ and wriggled in Barry’s grasp, hooking their claws into his hands and using the leverage to scramble up his arm onto his shoulder before hopping into the air, extending their wings to use them to glide a few feet across the room to land and cling to Cisco-Barry knew that birds needed to stretch out the flight muscles in their wings for a long time before they were actually developed and strong enough to carry them in flight. It was probably the same way with dragons. Vermithrax, too, wiggled to freedom from Wells’s hands and race across the floor to crawl up Cisco’s pant leg and perch on the shoulder not occupied by Griffin. Saphira gave up hunting for more loose threads (this time in Caitlin’s sleeve) and hopped down, landing nimbly on their feet and zipping across the floor to wind around Cisco’s ankles.

The man was still smiling, rubbing his hands together gleefully. “Come, my babies. We must plot.”

He tried to walk out dramatically, but tripped over Saphira on his way past Barry. That did nothing to stop his smiling, however. It just made him bend down to pick up the blue dragon as well, letting them hold on to his thigh as he marched away.

“Doesn’t that hurt him?” Barry asked, rubbing his hand where Smaug’s small but still needle-sharp claws had dug into it.

Cisco stuck his head back into the room along with Griffin, who made a small huffing sound. “There is no pain, only greatness, when it comes to dragons!”

* * *

Griffin curled around Cisco’s neck, amber-ish scales warm against his skin. He was messing with something, something that the dragonlet didn’t care about much other than the fact that it was so very, very shiny and tempting. In fact, everything was shiny and tempting. Griffin wanted it.

Reaching down with their tiny paws, the dragonlet tried to pick up the metal object-Griffin didn’t know it, but it was a collar for Vermithrax. (Cisco had already made the one that Griffin would wear for a short period of time before somehow managing to lose it. He had been going to make another one until he realized that they were just putting the shiny objects in a big pile, and then guarding it, which was really adorable.)

Cisco scratched behind Griffin’s ears. “Don’t do that yet, baby. I don’t know if it’s strong enough to hold up against your claws.”

Griffin snorted and pulled their paws back. Cisco looked at the tiny dragon on his shoulder thoughtfully. “Are you are a boy or a girl?”

The dragonlet tilted its head, wings ruffling and tail flicking back and forth and tapping against Cisco’s neck. The two stared at each other for a moment before Cisco shrugged, making Griffin bob up and down on his shoulder. “Are you a girl? Chirp once.”

“Hrrip.”

“Close enough. What about Saphira?”

“Hrrip.”

“Smaug?”

Silence.

“Vermithrax.”

Silence.

“Mushu?”

Silence again.

“So you and Saphira are girls, and the rest of them are boys?” Cisco asked the small amber colored dragon.

She chirped happily in reply and snuggled into his cheek before nipping at his earlobe and accidentally drawing a few drops of blood. Cisco tapped her lightly on the nose. “No biting, baby.”

Saphira chewed on the metal leg of the table that he was working on as Mushu and Vermithrax tried to shove their way underneath Cisco’s arms to grab at the metallic collar that he was working on. He smiled and briefly abandoned the project in favor of pulling some yarn liberated from one of his old sweaters out of his pocket for the dragonlets to play with. They were like cats, in a way. Scary cats with wings and horns and spines. Who might ones day be able to breath fire.

So not really like cats at all, then.

* * *

Griffin folded her wings and sat back on her haunches.  _ “Fire-Father?” _

Her Fire-Father ignored her, and she repeated it louder.  _ “Fire-Father?” _

Her Fire-Father stopped what he was doing and crouched down beside her. “You have to be quiet, Griffy-girl,” he said, rubbing the top of her head in between her horns. “The neighbors don’t know that you guys are here, and this place doesn’t allow pets, so you have to be quieter, okay?”

_ “Okay,”  _ Griffin chirruped, scuffling her paws on the floor. She glanced behind her at where two of her brothers, Vermithrax and Smaug, were wrestling on the floor, play-biting and swatting at each other in mock battle.  _ “Fire-Father, Smaug-Brother and Vermithrax-Brother are playing loudly too.” _

Fire-Father shook his head as he stepped over her to break the pair of male dragonlets apart. “You guys have to be quiet too, got it? You can be as loud as you want at STAR Labs, but at home you have to be as quiet as possible so that I don’t get arrested or worse-kicked out of my house.”

Griffin bobbed her head and pranced over to her brothers with her head held high.  _ “You have to listen to Fire-Father, brothers.” _

Vermithrax growled and raised his hackles. He was the fastest to anger, and although he would never  _ really  _ hurt his siblings he would take any opportunity to fight them.  _ “You were being loud too, Griffin-Sister.” _

Griffin huffed and pulled back up onto her back haunches to flap her wings at him ‘threateningly’.  _ “But I wasn’t fighting.” _

Before her brother could reply, Fire-Father picked her up and set her in her usual spot on his shoulder. “Stop that, you two.”

Someone knocked on the door, and Fire-Father stiffened before looking over at it as he set his hand on Griffin’s back, ready to pull her off so that she wouldn’t be seen by the neighbor who was inevitably asking about the loud sounds that the dragonlets seemed intent on making at all hours of the day (and sometimes the night, too). “Who is it?”

“It’s me,” a female voice said from the other side of the door. Griffin and Saphira perked up. “I brought the cat food.”

“Door’s open!” Fire-Father called, relaxing and turning back to what he was working on.

The door opened and Saphira charged at the woman who stood there, arms full of plastic bags filled with cat food. The blue dragon wound frantically around her ankles, rubbing her scaled face on their legs and pulling on the bottom of her pants, which she had yet to give up on trying to destroy. Saphira chirped loudly, voicing her pleasure at the arrival of the human.  _ “Snow-Sister! Snow-Sister! Snow-Sister!” _

Snow-Sister crouched down awkwardly and rubbed the spot behind Saphira’s horns where Fire-Father had discovered that she absolutely loved to be stroked. “Hi Saphira.”

_ "Snow-Sister! Snow-Sister!”  _ The dragonlet mewed, nipping at Snow-Sister’s fingers and making her wince.

“Ow. Cisco, do you have anywhere that I can dump this?” Snow-Sister asked as she stood up. Griffin narrowed her eyes. ‘Cisco’ was the human name that they used for Fire-Father. They didn’t use the names that dragons were  _ supposed  _ to use, the ones with at least two parts so that everyone knew what they were to the that specific dragon. Griffin flicked her tail and accidentally hit Fire-Father in the neck with it, making him automatically clap his hand to the spot as if he had been stung by some sort of insect. Instead, his hand hit Griffin’s scaly-skinned side as well as a part of her wing, making the dragon dig her claws in deeper into his shirt-and the skin beneath it.

“Ow,” Fire-Father muttered. “Griffin, that hurts.”

The dragonlet immediately pulled her claws out and licked the side of his neck in apology.  _ “Sorry, Fire-Father. Humans are soft.” _

Snow-Sister set the bags full of mysteriously delicious-smelling metal  _ (shiny shiny shiny shiny)  _ cans on the counter next to Fire-Father’s mess, looking at it with confusion. “What are you trying to do with tomato sauce? And… Cheese?”

“I was trying to make pizza,” Fire-Father said sheepishly. “I got a crust from the grocery store about a week ago and I just remembered that I had it, and I was really craving pizza earlier, and I had the rest of the stuff like sauce and cheese which is all that you really need to make it taste good, so…”

Snow-Sister shook her head at Fire-Father’s rambling. “Luckily, I brought takeout. Chinese.”

Fire-Father immediately brightened, pulling a shiny metal thing out of one of his cabinets and setting it against the top of one of the cans, cranking it and rotating the can. It made a satisfying sound as it cut through the metal, and Griffin craned her neck to try to see what else was happening. The sound also attracted the attention of the other four dragonlets, including Saphira, making the blue-scaled female give up trying to knock Snow-Sister over with the pure strength of her love for the human woman. Vermithrax stopped attempting to pin Smaug to the ground and bounded over to Fire-Father’s feet, Mushu and Smaug himself following right behind him. After Fire-Father opened four more cans (one for each dragon), he set them down on the floor, shoving through a mass of scales and wings. Griffin clambered down Fire-Father’s legs to push through her siblings to pull one of the cans away so that she could eat by herself in peace.

As Griffin ate, she listened to Snow-Sister and Fire-Father tease each other good-naturedly as they pulled out small white and red paper boxes of human food, which smelled good, but not as good as her own food. Mushu and Vermithrax were squabbling over a can that was still at least a quarter full, while Saphira and Smaug watched with dragonish disapproval.

“Come on, Caitlin,” she heard her Fire-Father say, using Snow-Sister’s human name. “How many people can say that they’ve seen dragons fighting over cat food?”

“Fair enough,” Snow-Sister said, rolling her eyes. “But you can’t show it to anybody other than the other people at STAR Labs and maybe our, ah,  _ friends _ in Starling City, you know that, right?”

“Of course not, but I’ll always have it to watch whenever I want to, and that means that it will always be hilarious. Wanna binge-watch dragon movies on Netflix?”


	2. The Nuclear Man and the Fallout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I smushed these two episodes together into a single chapter on a whim because they were both _way_ too short. Heck, this chapter is still on the short side. But the next two will kick off the saga of chapters that are ridiculously long (although Tricksters is still short). And the angst will start soon.
> 
> _Very_ soon.

Mushu pounced on Cisco’s shoelaces as he walked across the floor. The man had tried to attach cat toys to his shoes, but they didn’t stand a chance against the claws of any of the dragons, especially Mushu and Vermithrax, who were both always ready to rip into something with their claws. Usually it was something that they  _ could  _ destroy, like said short-lived cat toys, but on occasion the dragonlets went after something else that was a little more fragile and easy to puncture, like human flesh. Luckily, Barry’s skin healed fast, and Smaug learned to be a bit more gentle when he was trying to show his affection.

“Murp?” Griffin chirped from her place on Cisco’s shoulder, and the man nodded solemnly in agreement.

“You’re right, baby girl. We  _ should _ get a scratching post for Mushu and Vermithrax before they rip up all of my furniture and keep tearing massive holes in things at STAR Labs. You’re absolutely right.”

“No, Cisco,” Wells sighed from just outside of the room.

“But why not?” Cisco replied eagerly, scratching the spot behind Griffin’s ears as she nuzzled his face in return. “They need it to keep their claws dull, don’t they? And who knows how sharp they will get when these little guys get older? We need a scratching post.”

“Then you can get one for your own house, but we won’t get a scratching post for STAR Labs.”

“Spoilsport,” Cisco muttered, sticking his tongue out in the direction of the doorway. Saphira hissed in agreement, wrestling with Smaug and flipping her brother under her, blue wings flaring out and open in an attempt to keep him pinned to the floor

A small beep came from one of the screens on the large console-table-thing that they used to track Barry’s movements, making Cisco sigh and pull out his phone to tell his friend about the convenience store robbery that was currently in progress downtown. Snickering at his friend’s annoyance and assuring him that it was always, without fail, a little old lady that was getting mugged or robbed or murdered or whatever, Cisco crouched down to pat Mushu on the head.

_ “There’s no little old lady!”  _ Barry said triumphantly in his ear. Cisco huffed in amusement and hang up, letting his friend return to his date while looking around for stuff to use an obstacle course for the dragons. For his dignity, or flight, or whatever you wanted to call it. (Personally, Cisco liked dignity the best. It sounded cool and vaguely badass and threatening, like, “Don’t make me sic my dignity on you, scoundrel!”)

“Do you want to try to fly, Mr. Huffypants?” Cisco called to Vermithrax. The dragon tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, resentment at the nickname making smoke trickle up through his nostrils. He was the only one of the dragonlets to actually start making the beginnings of fire, something that constantly excited Cisco-and Barry, to a lesser extent.

Vermithrax snorted and sprang up onto the table, his long legs allowing him to spring off and on high places (including tall people, something that constantly surprised Barry whenever he decided to jump on top of him) with ease. Cisco frowned at him. “I’ll take that as a no.”

Mushu pounced on his shoes again, and Cisco scooped him up. “Stop doing that, Green Bean.”

Mushu licked his face in response and squirmed out of the engineer’s grasp, pulling himself up onto Cisco’s other shoulder. Griffin hiccuped to him in some secret language, and Cisco tried to look at both of them at the same time without turning his head in an attempt to decipher what they were saying to each other (he only succeeded in giving himself the beginnings of what looked like it was going to be a killer headache). “Can you two understand each other? Is there a secret language that only dragons have?” He paused. “Can you teach me?”

* * *

For the first two nights that the dragons were living in Cisco’s house, they were content to sleep in the remains of their dirty cardboard box, which had been placed into the bathtub along with a tattered towel that had already been completely ruined by an attempt to melt chocolate in the microwave (several attempts, actually, all of which failed miserably. Cisco maintained that it was because he accidentally left a fork in there). But on the third night, the five young creatures decided that it would be much more comfortable to sleep  _ with  _ Cisco instead.

They had all somehow managed to scale the wall of the bathtub, despite the fact that they were all small enough to sleep curled up in it comfortably (even though all five had grown visibly larger in the short time that they had been living with Cisco). Vermithrax led the charge, the largest dragonlet following the freshest scent of his Fire-Father to where it led-his bedroom.

All five of the dragonlets jumped up onto the bed, claws digging into the soft blankets. Griffin dove down underneath the covers and popped out underneath Cisco’s chin, curling up in between his jaw and his neck with a contented purr. Smaug circled three times like a strange red-scaled dog and curled up underneath one of Cisco’s hands, which was resting carelessly on top of the blankets. Vermithrax threw himself down on top of Cisco’s legs, ignoring the way that they dug into his stomach. Saphira curled up into a small blue ball beside her ‘older’ brother, pressed against Cisco’s ankles. Mushu, however, decided to tuck himself up as close to his Fire-Father as possible, pressing his scaly spine to the space in between Cisco’s shoulder blades, half underneath the covers.

(Cisco, who had woken up when Griffin’s horns first started digging into his throat, tried to move as little as was physically possible so that he wouldn’t disturb them.)

* * *

Saphira raked the ground with her sharp claws, wings flapping impatiently. She made an angry sound low in the back of her throat, tail lashing back and forth on the ground. Fire-Father was gone! He had left her and her brothers and sister alone her at the Star Lair, and she didn’t know where he was!

Actually… They weren’t quite alone. For a little while Snow-Sister and Dark-Friend had been there too, but they left along with Sparks-Brother to go… Somewhere.

Before Fire-Father had dropped them off at the Star Lair, they had been left alone for a little while at their Home Lair. That had been okay-he had assured them that he would be back soon, he was just going out to get coffee with ‘Caitlin’ (Snow-Sister) and ‘Barry’ (Sparks-Brother). But this time he had just left them as he took the bright glowing thing that he had been messing with a few days ago.

Mushu watched her with narrowed eyes.  _ “You worry too much, Saphira-Sister,”  _ he huffed.  _ “Fire-Father always comes back.” _

_ “He’s never been gone without telling us where he was going before!”  _ Saphira protested loudly.

_ “Fire-Father has only ever gone anywhere once without bringing us,”  _ Mushu pointed out, kinking his green tail before straightening it back out again.  _ “And we were fine. He came back. He’ll always come back, Saphira-Sister.” _

Saphira huffed and started to run in tight circles around her brother.  _ “Well, what if he doesn’t?” _

Mushu let out a dragonish sigh and shook his head at his sister. She worried too much. Fire-Father would always come back to them. Always.

He did come back, but only for a little while, and this time he apologized, gave them more delicious food from the metal cans, and promised that he would be back again before leaving.

After a long time, Snow-Sister and Dark-Friend, along with a  _ new  _ human, returned back to Star Lair. The new human smelled like fire and crackling flames, and he smelled like two people all mixed together-not like Dark-Friend did, where one smell was overlaid on top of the other, but like they had been crushed together. Vermithrax christened him as Burning-Friend, because of his smell, and anyone who’s scent sang of fire couldn’t be bad.

So they piled on top of him in a mound of scales and wings, chirping happily at the comforting warmth.

When Fire-Father returned for good, he went to speak immediately with Burning-Friend, calling him first ‘Ronnie’ (human names were very strange) and then regretting it. He did officially introduce the dragonlets, however, and Saphira decided that Mushu was right. Just because Fire-Father was gone for a long time didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to come back.

That was when the humans started arguing, and then Snow-Sister was glaring at Dark-Friend. For a long time everything was mostly silent, and then the air shifted and the five young dragons could feel the tension in the Star Lair rise.

That was when something changed, and then...

It all happened so  _fast._

Something was wrong, very, very wrong. Burning-Friend had taken the cold metal object that Dark-Friend had left lying out, and then he was gone. Vermithrax and Smaug tried to stop him, but his fingers shot flames and he kept going. Now Snow-Sister was upset and hurt and they didn’t know what to do, and even Saphira, who knew how to help her the most. Sparks-Brother was going to run off again, faster than any of the other humans (they knew because he was wearing the red, and he always ran when he was wearing the red, even if he didn’t always wear it while running). Snow-Sister wanted to go with him and Fire-Father and Dark-Friend and Sparks-Brother were all trying to stop her…

But then she was gone, and the five dragonlets could do nothing but curl up around each other, purring in an attempt to comfort each other.

* * *

Now there were two. The two that had been the Burning-Friend. One of them, Grey-Friend, was an older human, the oldest one that they had ever met so far. While the second one, who had been the main scent in the Burning-Friend, who was Flames-Brother (or Snow-Sister-Mate) was mates with Snow-Sister. He was nice and soft and was second only to Fire-Father in Mushu’s eyes.

Snow-Sister was happier now than she had ever been before, something that made Saphira purr. She had even taken out a small sparkly band and worn it around her finger, Flames-Brother adorned with one that matched.

The blue dragonlet had never seen it before, and when she tried to take it from right off of Snow-Sister's finger the human woman had scolded her gently before taking it back. "That's not for you, Saphira," Snow-Sister said sternly, although it was slightly ruined by how delighted she looked. "You can't have my ring."

* * *

Cisco stroked Griffin’s spine, the small dragonlet’s body tense as a coiled spring in his lap. Saphira and Vermithrax were curled up at his feet, and Mushu was draped across the back of his neck. Smaug was the only one not touching him, instead circling at Caitlin’s feet while she yanked long needles from Barry’s flesh. The small red dragon liked the speedster, and seemed like he was trying to help in the only way that he possibly could.

To distract himself, he thought about what had happened when they had first introduced the dragonlets to Joe-they had taken a few minutes to warm up to him, but then they scrambled up his body and clung to him with their razor-sharp claws. Smaug had perched on top of his head, talons triumphantly hooked into the cop’s hat. Mushu had sat on Joe’s foot, refusing to move until Cisco forcefully pulled him off. It had been hilarious. He just wished that he had caught it on film.

Griffin wrinkled her nose at the smell of fresh blood in the air mixed in with Barry’s blood and the spiky scents of sour fear and pain. At least it wasn’t coming from her Fire-Father, because if it had, she and her siblings would not have rested until they had hunted down whoever had hurt him and then made them pay for what they had done. But a man, according to the humans, was still trying to hurt her Flames-Brother and her Grey-Friend, and maybe her Snow-Sister too. And he  _ had  _ hurt her Sparks-Brother with the bad shiny needles.

Hopefully, her Fire-Father would not be the next one hurt.

* * *

Cisco sat cross-legged on the floor of his living room, or at least the room where he spent most of his time outside of sleeping in his bedroom. The five dragonlets stood or lay stretched out in front of him, reptilian eyes watching him with intent curiosity. He cleared his throat importantly. “Babies, I need you to stay here while I go back to STAR for a while.” When Griffin tilted her head in confusion, he continued. “We don’t really know where Eiling is right now, and he seemed like he wanted to do a ton of nasty experiments on metahumans or maybe even kill them, so it’s not safe for you to be out there right now, okay? You’re all amazing and special and  _ super  _ awesome, but I don’t want any of you getting hurt or taken to that weird facility where they’re probably hiding aliens. Got it?”

Vermithrax puffed up to his full height, wings spreading as his mouth opened. The scales on his throat and chest shone with an odd light (almost as if they were glowing from within) and he let out a small baby dragon equivalent of a fearsome roar. It actually sounded small and not at all threatening, but Cisco wasn’t going to rain on Vermithrax’s parade. Mushu rolled his yellow eyes at his brother, and Cisco had to stifle a laugh at the similarity in his eyes to human expression. Griffin looked at her brothers and sister before stepping forwards, chin raised and wings held high. She looked almost like a princess of some kind, prancing toward him with her tail stick straight. Griffin paused in front of him, snorted, and then licked his hand. Cisco looked down at it then back up at her. “So… Does that mean that you’ll do it?”

* * *

Burning-Friend was gone, and so were Flames-Brother and Grey-Friend. The dragons had watched them spiralling up into the sky in a burst of flames, enjoying the meager warmth that the fading fire provided them. Snow-Sister and the new woman, who didn’t have an official dragon name yet (although Griffin and Smaug had agreed on wanting to call her Clear-Friend), were both clearly upset by him leaving. Saphira made sure to give Snow-Sister extra love-she certainly seemed to need it.

After all, who knew if Burning-Friend (and by extension Flames-Brother and Grey-Friend) would ever return? And if they did, the dragons had no idea when it would be. They assumed that Snow-Sister, Clear-Friend, Sparks-Brother, Dark-Friend, and Fire-Father didn’t either. Mushu curled his tail and watched the clouds. If he looked closely, he could see small flickers of flame dancing inside of them.

A goodbye from Burning-Friend.


	3. Out of Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I now have an updating schedule! Yay! I will update Wednesdays and Saturdays until I run out of chapters to post, and then I'll do just one or the other. I'll probably have to make a whole other story for season two... And for what i plan on doing with Legends of Tomorrow.
> 
> I'm going to start off with some... Minor pain. At least compared to what I have planned for the future.
> 
> Oh! And before I forget, someone absolutely _wonderful_ named Enement on tumblr drew _fanart_ of this fic! Already! (I'm on tumblr too-my username is secretly-a-dragon) I highly advise that you check out her blog!

Fire-Father popped popcorn in his mouth, Griffin draped around his neck and Mushu curled up around his feet while Vermithrax and Saphira sat perched on Dark-Friend’s lap and shoulder respectively. Smaug was stretched out in between them, chirping to himself at the black-and-white antics on the projector screen that Fire-Father had set up. Every so often Griffin would lower her head and allow Fire-Father to give her a small piece of popcorn, although he was trying to cut her off-they didn’t know what the dragonlets couldn’t eat yet, although they seemed to want to devour almost everything in sight. It didn’t really matter if it was edible or not.

As the Dark-Friend asked Fire-Father a question, Griffin felt his shoulders tense underneath her body. She tried to comfort him by licking his face. That seemed to help cheer him up, at least a little bit. Dark-Friend was asking about Fire-Father’s brother, something about a birthday? Was that like a hatchday, only for humans, who probably hatched out of very different eggs than dragons did? Fire-Father’s scent turned sharp with anger and embarrassment, and Griffin chirped to him to remind him that she and her siblings were there for him.

A small sound came from the side of the room, and all of the dragonlets looked at it in unison, heads tilting. Fire-Father jumped to his feet (taking Griffin with him and upsetting Mushu from his position), calling out to Dark-Friend, who’s scent tainted with confusion. Griffin and her siblings ignored it after realizing where the sound had been coming from. The beeping happened often, and all that it meant was that Sparks-Brother had to go out and do something while he was dressed in red. Sometimes he came back with blood on his body somewhere, and Snow-Sister would heal him, but that wasn’t often. Sparks-Brother liked to boast that nobody was fast enough to catch him, even though he always seemed intent in wanting to go even  _ faster.  _ Griffin didn’t see the point, because he was already faster than any of the humans that she had ever met, and all of the dragonlets.

She didn’t know that there was a reason that he wanted to get faster, and she was too drowsy to realize that Sparks-Brother was talking to Fire-Father through the strange black things that Mushu and Saphira weren’t allowed to chew on.

* * *

Saphira padded slowly back and forth after Snow-Sister as she studied a pair of images on the large screens in front of her that Fire-Father had made appear. The blue dragon wasn’t paying very much attention to the actual images-dragons may have had excellent eyesight, but they relied far more on their sense of smell, or at least the she and her siblings did.

Smaug was sitting on the edge of the table, just to the right of where Sparks-Brother was leaning against it. Vermithrax was on his other side, while Griffin was perched on Fire-Father’s shoulder and Mushu rested in the lap of the Dark-Friend, who moved slowly forwards while speaking to the group as a whole before looking at Fire-Father and Sparks-Brother.

“Yeah, only Mark’s power seemed a  _ lot  _ more precise. To be able to control the weather like that, indoors?” Sparks-Brother sighed, absentmindedly stroking the top of Smaug’s head.

“He’d have to be some sort of  _ Weather Wizard,”  _ Fire-Father said gleefully. “Been waiting since week one to use that one.” He picked up the cup that he had been drinking some sort of red drink out of and took a long satisfying sip before wincing.

“Trigeminal headache?” Snow-Sister said, smirking at Fire-Father. Griffin churred and tilted her head at the unfamiliar word, and Fire-Father frowned.

“What?”

“Trigeminal headache,” Snow-Sister repeated. “Brain freeze.”

“Then why didn’t you just call it a brain freeze?” Fire-Father pointed out, turning to look at Snow-Sister as she sat down in a chair next to him. Griffin blinked. Brain freeze? Was Fire-Father in danger? Was a part of him frozen? Humans needed their brains, didn’t they?

“Something tells me that running around a twister in the opposite direction isn’t going to do the trick this time,” Steel-Friend said, walking over to Sparks-Brother. Steel-Friend was nice, although not close enough to be a brother or a sister. The nearest that the dragonlets could figure, he was Sparks-Brother’s father, but they weren’t quite sure.

“I just remembered,” Fire-Father said, spinning around to face Steel-Friend and Sparks-Brother. “During our run-in with Mardon-Clyde Mardon-I was tinkering around with something to help attract unbound atmospheric electrons.”

“Like a grounding mechanism?” Sparks-Brother asked.

“Yes. The only way Mardon can control the weather is if he can tap into the atmosphere’s natural electrical circuit. And if we take away that circuit…” Griffin licked his ear as he took another sip of his drink. “Clear skies.”

Steel-Friend showed Sparks-Brother something. “Singh’s checking in,” he said. “I gotta go.”

“Yeah, I’ll meet you at the station,” Sparks-Brother said with a nod.

Dark-Friend moved forwards. “Joe, we’ll find Mardon. Don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried at all,” Steel-Friend said, picking up his coat.

Saphira could smell the lie in his words even as he said them.

* * *

“I call it the Wizard’s Wand,” Cisco said proudly, lifting it up almost reverently off of its stand.

“Subtle. How does it work?” Caitlin asked.

“Just think of it like an active lightning rod,” Cisco explained. “Point it at the sky and it’ll suck up whatever energy’s floating around there like a sponge.”

Barry carefully took the ‘wand’ from Cisco’s hand. “And it’ll stop Mardon?”

“It will slow him down. If there’s no atmospheric electrons available to him, there’s no way to control the weather. Good work, Cisco. As always,” Wells commented. Cisco puffed up his chest, the dragon on his shoulder (who happened to be Smaug) doing the same. The engineer smiled at Barry as his friend swung the wand like it was a lightsaber before gently handing it back over. Wells sighed and started to move past the trio. “Excuse me, I’m going to go stretch my legs.”

Smaug tilted his head in confusion.

“Are you okay?” Caitlin asked Barry as Saphira clambered up her body. The woman had gotten used to the blue dragon climbing up and down her as if she were a tree whenever she could, and had long since given up on trying to stop her. “You seem a little… Off.”

“Yeah, uh, somebody at  _ Picture News _ got it into Iris’s head that something suspicious is going on with Dr. Wells.” Barry glanced unconsciously over his shoulder in the direction that the man had disappeared. Smaug did too, narrowing his yellowish amber eyes down into slits.

“Like what?” Caitlin asked, frowning as she exchanged a confused glance with Cisco.

“That he knows what happened to Simon Stagg. Nobody has seen or heard from him since the night that I stopped Danton Black.”

“What did you tell her?” Cisco asked, stroking Smaug’s neck gently as the dragon nibbled on his fingertips-he knew to be gentle by now, and the nips didn’t hurt or draw blood.

“That she’s wrong,” Barry said immediately. “And she is.”

He turned and started to walk away, leaving the other two people in silence. Caitlin walked off in the other direction, clearly satisfied with Barry’s answer. Cisco, however, remained at the center of the room, lost in thought. Griffin padded over from the corner and climbed up his body to sit on his other shoulder, squeaking softly in his ear to reassure him that everything was okay.

* * *

“Keep this handy,” Cisco instructed as he set the wand down on the stand that he had carried with him to the police precinct. “It will protect you from Mardon’s powers.”

“Yes, Cisco, I got it,” Joe replied.

“Hey, Joe?” Cisco called as the older man started to walk away. “Um, I know you have a lot going on right now, but you mentioned that Dr. Wells might’ve had something to do with Barry’s mother’s murder. Why did you think that.”

“Doesn’t matter. I was wrong.”

“But you seemed  _ really  _ sure of it.”

“Cisco, I can’t talk about this right now, okay?” Joe said, backing away.

Cisco sighed and watched him leave for a second before walking over to the elevator. As he got in, the doors closing in front of him, his eyes absently rested on one of the men who had walked out when the doors opened, and he realized why he looked so familiar. Cisco had just been looking at his mugshot a few hours ago, after all.

Pulling out his phone, he called Barry just as the doors closed.

* * *

Vermithrax rested on Fire-Father’s shoulder as he poured over one of his many screens. The ornery dragon’s head perked up when he heard Snow-Sister approaching, her clean, cold scent becoming fresher as it replaced the old strains of it that lingered from where she had been before. Concern leaked into her voice as she walked up, asking Fire-Father a gentle question.

When he didn’t reply either time, Snow-Sister walked forwards until she stood just behind him and a note of coaxing entered her tone. “Alright, fine, I will watch every episode of  _ The Walking Dead  _ with you.” When he still didn’t respond, she carefully rested her hand on his arm. “Hey. You couldn’t have stopped Mardon from attacking the police station. It’s not your fault.”

Fire-Father turned to her. “No, it’s not that,” he sighed, lowering his gaze to the floor. Vermithrax’s hackles started to raise nervously. Something was wrong. “What do you think of Dr. Wells?”

“What do you mean?” Snow-Sister blinked at him in confusion. Vermithrax curled his lip up in a small snarl.

“I mean, do you think he’s capable of doing something  _ bad?”  _ Fire-Father asked his best friend nervously.

“Is this because of what Barry said he heard?” Snow-Sister frowned. As Fire-Father started to walk away, taking Vermithrax with him, she followed him. “Since the accelerator exploded, there’s always been who’s got it in for Dr. Wells.”

“No, no, it’s more than that,” Fire-Father’s voice took on a pleading quality and Vermithrax nuzzled him. The dragonlet rarely showed affection to anybody other than Fire-Father, and  _ occasionally  _ Sparks-Brother and Snow-Sister. Never Dark-Friend, and he hadn’t had enough interaction with Flames-Brother, Grey-Friend, and Steel-Friend to consider them a part of his family. At least not yet. “Joe said that maybe Dr. Wells was somehow involved in Barry’s mother’s death. In her  _ murder.” _

“That’s absurd,” Snow-Sister denied. Vermithrax huffed at her angrily-couldn’t she see that Fire-Father was scared? Couldn’t she smell the way that his apprehension and fear soured the air around them? Human senses were so weak.

“Yeah, I know, and that’s what I said. And we proved that that wasn’t the case, but…” Fire-Father paused and leaned back in his chair (he had sat down when he started talking about ‘Joe,’ which Vermithrax knew was the human name for Steel-Friend). Fire-Father sighed. “I’m just saying, some things aren’t adding up.”

“Like what, for example,” Snow-Sister challenged. Vermithrax looked back and forth between the two humans. By now, all of the dragonlets had gathered around Fire-Father, whether winding around his legs or scrambling up his body to perch on his legs, lap, or shoulders. Griffin looked up at Vermithrax from her newly claimed spot in Fire-Father’s lap.

_ “What’s Snow-Sister saying?”  _ She mewed. Vermithrax twitched his tail for his tiny golden sister to be quiet.

“Come here. Look at this.” Fire-Father leaned forwards slightly and pulled up something on the computer in front of him. “When we trapped the Reverse-Flash, he escaped because the containment system failed. But I checked that data  _ three times.  _ And the supercapacitors were fully charged when he got out. The numbers don’t add up, Caitlin. No reason the containment system should have failed.”

“I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation,” Snow-Sister said nervously, although she smelled unsure.

“One ‘perfectly good explanation’ is that Wells did something to the trap,” Fire-Father said, looking up at her. Vermithrax looked around at his siblings. ‘Wells’ or ‘Dr. Wells’ were the human names for Dark-Friend, so named because he always wore black. None of them knew who the Reverse-Flash was, but Sparks-Brother was sometimes called ‘The Flash’ when he wore red. Had Dark-Friend hurt Sparks-Brother? Vermithrax dug his claws through Fire-Father’s shirt and into his skin, making him wince. At least he was mostly used to being accidentally scratched or nipped or pricked by now.

“Are you suggesting that Dr. Wells is in league with the man in the yellow suit?” Snow-Sister hissed. If she had been a dragon, her ears would have been flattened, her hackles would have been raised, and her wings would have been flared out. “I mean, we all saw that  _ thing _ almost kill him that night.”

“Yeah.  _ Nearly.”  _ Fire-Father closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again.

Snow-Sister took a deep breath and started to walk around Fire-Father, almost tripping over Mushu in the process. “Cisco, what you’re saying doesn’t make any sense. That’s  _ crazy.” _

The two humans looked at each other for a long moment before Fire-Father jumped out of his chair, causing  the dragonlets to scatter. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Can you keep Dr. Wells out of STAR Labs tomorrow morning?”

Snow-Sister took a deep shaky breath and bit her lower lip. Fire-Father looked at her pleadingly and Snow-Sister sighed. “Fine. I’ll do it. But only to make you realize how silly you’re being-oomph!”

Fire-Father had jumped up, sending Griffin and Saphira tumbling down to the floor. He threw his arms around Snow-Sister and buried his face in her shoulder. “Thanks, Cait. You’re the best.”

* * *

“Do you think that this is a good idea?” Fire-Father asked the dragonlets as they all sat on his bed with him. “Or am I just being paranoid?”

Vermithrax growled.  _ “If this… Reverse-Flash” _ -he curled up his lip at the silly human name- _ “hurt one of our nestmates, we must make him pay, even if he does end up being Dark-Friend somehow.” _

_ “Agreed, Vermithrax-Brother,”  _ Mushu hissed, curling his reptilian green tail. The dragonlet ruffled his wings.

Griffin puffed up to her full height, which wasn’t very much, seeing as how she was still the smallest member of the group by far.  _ “And if Fire-Father gets hurt, we will hunt down whoever does it and rip them apart.” _

_ “Big words for a small dragon, Griffin-Sister,”  _ Smaug purred in amusement. He was the second largest behind Vermithrax (although Mushu was steadily catching up to him).  _ “But I do agree.” _

Fire-Father looked back and forth between the three. Seeing as how he couldn’t understand a word of it, he was understandably very confused. “Uh, what does any of that mean?”

_ “It’s the right choice,”  _ Saphira said, trotting forwards a few paces and licking Fire-Father’s hand with her small sandpapery tongue. She purred to the human man in front of them.  _ “Do it, Fire-Father.” _

Fire-Father sighed. “Well, I’m doing it anyways, so if that was you guys telling me not to, I’m very sorry.”

* * *

Griffin was the only dragonlet with Fire-Father when he started to mess with the large machine in one of the big rooms that filled the Star Lair. He poked and prodded around with wiring and tools, turning on the powersource and making the whole thing light up. When he was satisfied, he pulled a long wire away from the bubble, straightening it out and pulling it back. Griffin hopped up onto his shoulders as he looked at the huge machine.

“Let’s see if you can tell me what really went wrong that night,” Fire-Father murmured, absently rubbing one of Griffin’s small wings as he typed something into the computer in front of him.

It beeped and made small humming sounds, causing Fire-Father to let out a small huff of frustration. “What? I don’t understand.” He slammed the computer shut and walked back to the base of the large contraption. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

Griffin made a small chirruping sound of worry. Fire-Father sounded confused and scared and frustrated. She didn’t like it.

As he messed with a few wires, a hissing, fizzling sound drew Fire-Father’s attention to the bubble-machine. Griffin made a small sound and pressed herself against his throat, tail curling around the back of his neck under his dark hair.

Something had appeared inside of the bubble.

It looked like Sparks-Brother did when he wore the red clothes and came back battered but pleased with himself. Only instead of red it was yellow, and everything about it screamed  _ wrong.  _ There was no scent, just the same crackling sound that hummed through Griffin’s veins and set her sharp teeth on edge. Its eyes were glowing bright red, a sharp, piercing crimson, and she suddenly knew what to call it.

_ “Redsparks-Demon,”  _ Griffin hissed into Fire-Father’s ear, but he seemed almost frozen in place.

That was when the small dragonlet realized that the monster was speaking, speaking as it stared right at her. No, not right at her… Right at Fire-Father. In a way, that was even worse.

“My goals are beyond your understanding,” Redsparks-Demon hissed lowly, sounding like its namesake.

Fire-Father unfroze and slowly reached out, tapping some sort of command into the computer. The monster spoke backwards, and suddenly Griffin realized that he was  _ controlling _ it somehow. Good. And it seemed to be stuck inside of the bubble. Also good.

“Dr. Wells, we meet at last,” the monster said after taking a few steps backwards. Fire-Father, as if in response, took a few steps forwards, seemingly entranced by the monster behind the invisible wall. “My goals are beyond your understanding.”

“I can’t believe this,” Fire-Father whispered, and Griffin carefully jumped off of his shoulder, using her small wings to glide to the ground. She padded up to the base of the machine, sniffing around it. She ducked around the other side, studying the demon seemingly trapped on the inside of it from all angles.

“Oh, I’m not like the Flash at all,” Redsparks-Demon said, voice still distorted.

Then Griffin smelled Dark-Friend, and heard him speak in unison with Redsparks-Demon.

“Some would say I’m the reverse.”

Griffin snuck along the edge of the machine with her wings tensed, careful to stay out of sight. Fire-Father had spun around, dark eyes wide. Behind him, the illusion of Redsparks-Demon fizzled and disappeared.

Dark-Friend was slowly advancing towards Fire-Father, but that couldn’t be right. He had to be another illusion, because Dark-Friend couldn’t walk. He sat in that special chair that took him places-why would he use it if he could use his legs? (Although Snow-Sister did make Sparks-Brother use one for a few hours after he hurt his leg, but that was different.)

“You’re incredibly clever, Cisco,” Dark-Friend said, and Griffin’s wings tensed even more automatically until they were almost painfully stiff. “I’ve always said so.”

“You’re him,” Fire-Father said, his scent mixing into a toxic cocktail of fear and horror and anger and betrayal that Griffin nearly choked on. “The Reverse-Flash.”

“You and I have never been truly properly introduced,” Dark-Friend (foe? Was he no longer a friend?) said, stopping only a few feet away from Fire-Father (too close for Griffin’s comfort). “I am Eobard Thawne.”

“Thawne?” Fire-Father said, a winding trail of curiosity making its way through his scared voice. “Like Eddie.”

“Let’s call him a distant relative,” Dark-Fr-no, Dark- _ Enemy  _ said softly. Griffin’s sharp ears picked up the sound with ease.

“The night that we trapped the Reverse-Flash,” Fire-Father said, hands coming up weakly before dropping back down to his sides. Griffin wanted to go over there, wanted to help him and make sure that Dark-Enemy couldn’t hurt him, but she didn’t know how. “You almost died.”

Dark-Enemy hummed in agreement.

“There were two of you?”

Dark-Enemy held up a hand, and then his form blurred, and then he…  _ Then there were two of them.  _ Griffin snarled in shocked surprise, hackles raising. She wished that Vermithrax were here-he would have been brave enough to stop hiding and face down her new enemy.

(Where were her clutchmates? They could help her fight Dark-Enemy before he could hurt Fire-Father. Where were they?)

“It’s an afterimage,” one of the Dark-Enemies said as Fire-Father took a few unconscious steps forwards. “A speed mirage, if you will.” One of the Dark-Enemies (the one that had said nothing) slid to the side, dissolving into the one that had spoken.

“Joe was right,” Fire-Father said, rubbing his face. Griffin thought that she could see tears staining his face and longed to comfort him. But she was too scared to move from her hiding place. “You were there that night, fifteen years ago.” He looked up. “In Barry’s house. You  _ killed _ Nora Allen…”

“It was never my intention to kill Nora,” Dark-Enemy said dismissively. Griffin suddenly realized that Fire-Father was trembling. “I was there to kill Barry.”

Fire-Father stiffened. “Why?” His voice shook and wavered. “You’re his friend, you’ve been teaching how to-”

“Go faster, I know. A means to an end,” Dark-Enemy said, starting to circle around Fire-Father. Griffin realized that he hadn’t even realized that she was there yet. Maybe she could attack him before he had a proper chance to notice her… “And I’ll tell you why. Because I have been stuck here, marooned here in this place for fifteen long years. And the Flash, and the Flash’s speed, is the key to my returning to my world. To my time.” He paused and turned back to Fire-Father. “And no one is going to prevent that from happening.”

Something about the way that he said it made all of the muscles in Griffin’s legs tense like coiled springs underneath her golden caramel colored scales. Her body shook and her eyes narrowed, but she was still far too scared to do anything. What _ could  _ she do, anyways? Her teeth and claws may have been sharp, but they were small. She couldn’t fly yet or breath fire. She was helpless to save her father.

“I can help you,” Fire-Father pleaded. He sounded so scared. Griffin made a small chirping sound that died in her throat before it could fully form. She was weak, too weak to do anything to protect Fire-Father or herself.

“You’re smart, Cisco,” Dark-Enemy murmured. He raised his hand into the air, and it started to vibrate like Sparks-Brother’s fingers sometimes did when Snow-Sister or Fire-Father or Dark-Friend asked him to do it. Griffin suddenly put all of the pieces together. Dark-Friend was now Dark-Enemy, but Dark-Enemy was the same person as Redsparks-Demon. “But you’re not that smart.” He started to advance on Fire-Father. “Do you know how  _ hard  _ it has been to keep all of this from you-especially from you? Because the truth is, I’ve grown quite fond of you. And in many ways, you have shown me what it is like to have a son.”

And with a crackle of red lighting, he plunged his hand into Fire-Father’s chest.

“Forgive me,” Redsparks-Demon whispered, so low that even Griffin’s sharp dragon ears were barely able to pick it up. “But to me, you’ve been dead for centuries.”

Then he pulled his hand away, and Fire-Father collapsed to the floor.

Griffin only stayed frozen in place for another millisecond-then she was running across the floor, charging at Redsparks-Demon with her teeth bared. He merely regarded her coolly as she raced towards him before disappearing with a crackle of red lightning. Griffin skidded to a halt before turning back to where Fire-Father lay in a crumpled heap on the floor. Then she looked back-Redsparks-Demon was still there, just in the doorway. Watching. Waiting. But she couldn’t leave Fire-Father lying there so still on the floor all alone without anyone to protect him, so she just puffed up until she was as large as possible, spread her wings as wide as they would go, closed her eyes, and  _ exhaled.  _ She’d seen her brothers trying to do it before but only managing to force a few thin grey tendrils of smoke to rise from their nostrils.

But when she did it, a thick plume of flame shot out in a bright flash of light. When the dots in her eyes faded, Redsparks-Demon was gone, and they were alone.

Griffin raced back to Fire-Father’s side. She gently nosed his arm.  _ “Fire-Father? Fire-Father, he’s gone now, you can stand back up now.”  _ Nothing happened, and Griffin titled her head in confusion. Why wasn’t he moving?  _ “Fire-Father? What’s wrong? Come on, stand up.” _

Silence.

_ “Oh. Are you still scared of Redsparks-Demon?”  _ There was no reply.  _ “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” _

Griffin curled up against his chest, right where his heart should have been beating. But there was only silence and a small puddle of something sticky and wet that stained her scales red.

_ “It’s okay. Nothing will hurt you while I’m around. We'll wait for help together.” _

Nobody came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canon.


	4. Rogue Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHAHA THIS CHAPTER IS SO LONG AND IT ISN'T EVEN THE LONGEST.

Griffin shook sleep from her scaly golden head, stretching her front paws leisurely in front of her in a catlike fashion. She had been drowsing on Cisco’s shoulder while he and Dr. Wells directed Barry over the comms.

Cisco himself smiled at the small dragon as she yawned at him, pink mouth gaping wide as she flashed her white fangs (they were still white because Caitlin had managed to capture the five dragonlets and use several now destroyed towels and dog toothbrushes). “Tired, Sweet Bean?”

Sweet Bean was his favorite nickname for her-Saphira’s was ‘Precious Flower’, Smaug’s had been ‘Cheeseburger’ ever since he stole the patty out of Cisco’s Big Belly Cheeseburger (while he was still eating it! Jerk), Mushu was christened as ‘Green Bean’ by Caitlin, and Vermithrax now was stuck with ‘Mr. Huffypants.’ Of course, there were several other, mostly Cisco-coined, nicknames for the dragons, but those ones were the most commonly used around STAR Labs. And in the Pipeline.

Speaking of the Pipeline, the dragons loved it. Not so much the Pipeline itself as the people in it, actually, but that didn’t matter. Smaug and Mushu both developed a connection to Bivolo, while Griffin and Saphira both fell for Shawna Baez (who was very pretty and very still in love with Clay). Even though the teleporting metahuman woman couldn’t see them and probably just assumed that they were either cats or birds judging by their weird noises, she still chatted with them about random things-random things that were mostly Clay, her jerky boyfriend. She’d stop talking to Cisco awhile ago.

Bivolo, on the other hand, could see out of his cell just fine, although the glass  _ was _ tinted so that his powers wouldn’t work. And he still had quite a bit of the paper and watercolors that Cisco had given him after the… Incident. Cue many nice photorealistic pictures based off of the five dragonlets in every color of the rainbow. Cisco kept the ones that looked the most like his five babies-they were going on his slowly-growing Wall of Dragons, which he added to whenever he possibly could. Caitlin and Barry did too.

“Mrrow,” Griffin mumbled, bumping his chin with her horned head. She’d had a nightmare (yes, the dragons dreamed), but she couldn’t remember it now.

* * *

 

“And I  _ really  _ don’t want to go,” Fire-Father pointed out. He was in the elevator with Griffin, Saphira, and Snow-Sister. Saphira was draped across Snow-Sister’s neck while Griffin was in her usual place on Cisco’s shoulder (she was getting heavier, which made the Star Lair people wonder just how big they were going to get, seeing as how Vermithrax was already the size of a small cat (even if Griffin was  _ much  _ smaller than him)).

“He’s your brother, Cisco,” Snow-Sister said as Saphira chewed on her hair. She sighed and pulled it out of the dragon’s mouth.

“Not by choice!”   


“Okay, well, how bad can a birthday party be?” Snow-Sister walked out of the elevator, switching the hands that she held her icy drink in whenever one got too cold.

“Um, my folks think that Dante’s stink doesn’t stink. Doesn’t matter how many times he screws up or how much he gets in trouble,” Fire-Father shook his head bitterly as he walked beside Snow-Sister. Griffin mewled quietly into his ear. “In their eyes, he can do no wrong. And yet, they never fail to remind me that I can do no right.”

“What if I came with you?” Snow-Sister offered, turning to him. Saphira meowed in agreement with the human woman, bright blue tail flicking.

_ “Smart idea, Snow-Sister,”  _ the dragonlet purred.

“What? Seriously?” Fire-father asked, eyes widening. Griffin licked his cheek.

“Absolutely! You’ve done so much for me, let me be there for you for a change,” Snow-Sister said sincerely. Saphira and Griffin exchanged happy looks.  _ “And  _ I can look at old family photo albums and see what little Cisco looked like without long hair.”

“I’m rescinding your invite,” Fire-Father said flatly, squeezing around her. Saphira hissed in amusement and dug her stubby (but still very sharp) claws into Snow-Sister’s shirt. The human woman smiled and stroked the small blue dragon as she followed after her best friend on their way down to the main room.

* * *

 

“Clyde Mardon has a brother?” Snow-Sister said in surprise. Saphira tried to shake off the feeling that she had done this before and mewed a note of warning to her siblings.

“So both Mardon brothers survive the plane crash and the dark matter released by the particle accelerator explosion affects them both,” Dark-Friend mused, wheeling forwards while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “-In virtually the same way,” he and Sparks-Brother said at the same time. The two looked at each other for a moment before Dark-Friend spoke again. “That’s right.”

“Only Mark’s not like Clyde at all. He can do things that you couldn’t even imagine,” Sparks-Brother said, studying the two pictures that Fire-Father had brought up on the screens. Saphira arched her back and hissed at them. They were trying to hurt her friends and family.

“You mean he’s sort of like a-” Fire-father began, only for Sparks-Brother to finish the words along with him. “-Weather Wizard?” Fire-Father narrowed his eyes and frowned slightly as he took a sip from his bright red drink. “Yeah.”

When he winced, Snow-Sister smirked at him.

“Trigeminal headache?” She and Sparks-Brother said at the same time. Saphira chirped in confusion and looked back and forth between them.

“Mr. Allen,” Dark-Friend said, looking at Sparks-Brother, “a word, please?”

“Yeah,” Sparks-Brother replied, after looking back and forth at Snow-Sister and Fire-Father. As he left, Snow-Sister set a comforting hand on Fire-Father’s shoulder as he winced, pressing his tongue to the roof of his mouth to alleviate the pain. Saphira squeaked in worry and clawed her way down Snow-Sister’s arm, trying to bite the bad red drink that had made his head hurt.

Snow-Sister tugged her back up onto her shoulder. “No, Precious Flower”-she winced at the accidental use of one of Fire-Father’s ‘nicknames’, which he used instead of their real names sometimes. Humans were weird like that-“don’t do that.”

* * *

Vermithrax sat back on his haunches and studied the angry human inside of the big glass box in front of him. He really was very angry, shouting and pounding against the glass.

“I’m gonna break out,” the angry human, Stormy-Enemy, yelled, “and I’m gonna create a tidal wave that destroys your entire city!”

Vermithrax huffed at him. Didn’t the bad humans that the good humans kept locked up down here know that they couldn’t get out? Not even Mist-Enemy, Smoke-Friend, and Gloweyes-Friend could escape, and they had been here since before the dragonlets. At least  _ they  _ weren’t angry all of the time. Well, Mist-Enemy was, but Smoke-Friend and Gloweyes-Friend were nice to the five young dragons, even though Smoke-Friend seemed to think that he was a cat.

Hmph. He was  _ not  _ a cat. Humans were weird. Even the nice ones.

“So, I still don’t understand,” Fire-Father said with a small frown as the door closed and locked Stormy-Enemy away. “How did you find him?”

“Uh, I just had a hunch,” Sparks-Brother said with a small shrug, crossing his arms over his chest. He was wearing the red again, Vermithrax noted. He’d been wearing it a lot lately. The dragonlet didn’t know if that was good or bad. (The red felt like dragon scales underneath their claws. Maybe that made Sparks-Brother part dragon?)

“That’s gotta be some kind of record,” Snow-Sister remarked as Saphira hopped onto her shoulder.

“Heh, yeah,” Fire-Father agreed, scratching Smaug in that spot underneath his red scaly chin that he loved so much. The dragon purred happily, melting against Fire-Father’s hand and closing his eyes with lazy happiness. Fire-Father sighed and started walking away. Vermithrax and the other two dragonlets who  _ weren’t  _ being held by either Snow-Sister or Fire-Father followed after him. “Well, there goes my excuse for bailing on my brother’s birthday.”

Snow-Sister smiled to herself and walked away after him. Vermithrax lingered in the ‘doorway’ for a moment, looking back over his shoulder at Dark-Friend and Sparks-Brother (who was turning as if to follow the others out into one of the many winding corridors inside of the Star Lair). Dark-Friend wheeled forwards. “Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?”

“Yeah, I do,” Sparks-Brother said, turning back to him. “I just saved a lot of lives.”

“I warned you not to mess with the timeline,” Dark-Friend said, looking at the closed box where they had put Stormy-Enemy before turning himself around to face Sparks-Brother.

“Dr. Wells, if you would just let me  _ tell  _ you what was going to happen, you’d understand why I did this,” Sparks-Brother replied earnestly.

“Whatever tragedy you think you’ve just averted,” Dark-Friend growled, causing Vermithrax’s muscles to tense. He’d never trusted the human man, no matter how much Fire-Father, Snow-Sister, Sparks-Brother, and most of the other humans seemed to. “Time will find a way to replace it. And trust me, Barry, the next one could be  _ much  _ worse.”

Shuddering to clear his head, Vermithrax turned and bounded off after his siblings and father. He didn’t need to think about the strange things that humans did with their time-they always seemed to be having strange problems, anyways. And their skin as so soft, their teeth and claws weren’t sharp, and they didn’t have horns  _ or  _ wings  _ or  _ spines to protect them. Silly humans. Didn’t they know that there was  _ always  _ something bigger, faster, stronger, smarter than they were?

* * *

“You can’t bring one of the dragonlets with you to your brother’s birthday party, Cisco,” Caitlin sighed, rolling her eyes. “We have to keep them a secret, remember?”

“Yeah, but I need the emotional support. I  _ know  _ that you’ll be there,” he said, forestalling Caitlin’s next protest, “but we can’t be too close together for the entire birthday without my family members thinking that we’re, you know, a  _ thing.  _ Like a  _ couple _ thing.” He shuddered. “And trust me, we do  _ not  _ want that.”

Caitlin wrinkled her nose. “True.” She paused for a second before sighing. “Fine, but bring Saphira. She’s trustworthy and small enough to hide”-she gave him another disapproving look-“but she won’t try to sit on your shoulders the entire time the way that Griffin would.”

Cisco whooped and hugged his best friend, making her jump in surprise. “Thanks for coming with me, Caitlin.”

* * *

Saphira squirmed in the small bag that Fire-Father was carrying her in. She didn’t know why she was in one, just that even though it was actually pretty comfortable in there, she still had no idea what was going on outside. But she could hear muffled voices and greetings, so she stopping moving and listened closely.

“Wow,” Snow-Sister’s muted voice said, “you’re parents really went all out with the cake.”

“Oh, well, it is Dante’s birthday,” Fire-Father said, sounding bitter through the walls of the bag. “The most important day of the year.”

Saphira shifted into a more comfortable position for her wings. She didn’t know who ‘Dante’ was (humans had such silly names!), but Fire-Father didn’t like him, and that was enough for her to know that  _ she  _ didn’t like him either. At least Snow-Sister was there with him-after Fire-father himself, she was Saphira’s favorite human.

“Hey, what’s up, man?” Someone said, probably to Fire-Father and Snow-Sister.

“Hey,” Fire-Father replied, clutching the bag that held Saphira closer to his chest. She hissed softly in discomfort but stayed quiet.

“Glad you could make it,” the same person as before said.

“Of course.” Fire-Father sounded as if he would rather be anywhere else.

“Hi, I’m Dante,” they said, and Saphira bristled. So  _ that  _ was ‘Dante!’ And he was probably talking to Snow-Sister! Well, he couldn’t have her. Snow-Sister already had a mate, Flames-Brother. Saphira hissed to herself. ‘Dante’ was a human name. That human would be… She didn’t know. She’d think of a name for him later.

“This is my friend, Caitlin,” Fire-Father introduced.

“Hi, Caitlin,” still-unnamed-Dante said to the human woman.

“Happy birthday,” Snow-Sister replied, sounding apprehensive.

“Thank you.”

“Here, I, uh, got you this,” Fire-Father said, and Saphira’s bag was moved to the other hand as the human held out the colorful box with the fun ribbons (they’d only been allowed to play with it for a little while before it got taken away, unfortunately) that he had brought along with them.

In her new position, the voices got even more muffled, and Saphira couldn’t make out any of the words. She didn’t need to to know that the still-unnamed-Dante-human was bad.

* * *

 

Saphira finally had a name for ‘Dante.’ It was Music-Human, because he wasn’t a friend or a brother (not quite an enemy, though, either, although he wasn’t too far off). That was what the humans called the nice sounds, right? Fire-Father liked other kinds of music, though, the dragonlet reflected. Not the chiming sounds that Music-Human made somehow. She knew because he liked to play it for them, occasionally even challenging one of the dragonlets to a ‘dance off,’ whatever that was.

“I was a little rusty,” Music-Human said outside of the bag, “I haven’t played in awhile.”

“Oh, well, if that was what you sounded like rusty, I can’t imagine what you sound like when you’ve practiced,” Snow-Sister said uncomfortably. Saphira purred. Good, Snow-Sister didn’t like Music-Human either!

“For you, I’d practice morning, noon, and night,” Music-Human said. Saphira’s purring turned into growling in a heartbeat. No! Snow-Sister already  _ had  _ a mate! And he was a  _ good  _ human, unlike Music-Human and his chiming sounds. The dragonlet didn’t even notice that her growling was growing louder and louder by the second, until it was easily audible through the cloth of the bag. However, the background party outside prevented her from being heard.

“Heh, that means you’d actually have to get up in the morning,” Fire-Father laughed. Good, at least he was happy.

There was a long and awkward pause before Music-Human spoke again. “So, Mom tells me that you’re still working at STAR Labs, huh?”

“Yeah, why?” Fire-Father asked defensively.

“No reason, man,” Music-Human said easily (Saphira wondered why he said “man” so much). “Guess it was just hard to find another job.”

“Oh, I wasn’t looking,” Fire-Father said. His voice had taken on a hard edge, and Saphira huffed nervously. It took a  _ lot  _ to make Fire-Father actually,  _ truly  _ angry instead of just mad or upset, but it sounded like he was well on his way there. “I actually like working at STAR Labs.”

Snow-Sister jumped to his defense. “And we couldn’t do what we do without Cisco.”

“Oh, he’s loyal,” Music-Human agreed. He paused. “Just like a dog.”

The pause grew longer, and Saphira snarled from inside of the bag. She didn’t really understand what Music-Human had said, but it obviously meant something bad, and it was directed towards Fire-Father.  _ Her _ Fire-Father. Saphira flexed her claws, their razor-sharp tips piercing through the outside of her prison.

“Come on, why are you so serious,  _ mija?”  _ Music-Human said.

For a moment, nothing happened, and then Saphira felt the bag start to move. She could tell that Fire-Father was carrying her away, and she wanted to rip Music-Human to shreds for what he had said. It was obviously bad. Maybe he  _ should  _ have been Music-Enemy.

Saphira decided, just as Fire-Father opened the door to leave, that she could not allow Music-Human to remain unpunished for what he had done to hurt her Fire-Father (and her Snow-Sister! He tried to replace Flames-Brother!).

So she ripped the bag open, sending herself tumbling down to the ground.

* * *

 

Cisco let out a sound of surprise as the bag that had been carrying Saphira suddenly became a whole lot lighter as the dragonlet dropped to the floor and sprinted into the house that he had grown up in. Blue scales shining, Saphira weaved through people’s legs until she disappeared into the large crowd of people that somehow knew his brother and could stand to be around him for more than a few minutes.

Swearing under his breath, Cisco pushed through the people until Caitlin rested her hand on his shoulder. “Cisco? What’s going on?” Her eyes landed on the ripped bag and her face paled. “Oh, no. Where’s Saphira?”

A scream of surprise and pain ripped through the air.

Cisco gulped. “Found her.”

Dante was swearing in a mix of Spanish and English, jumping around as he tried to free the young blue dragon that had its claws hooked into his flesh. Saphira was hopping and scrambling nimbly up and down his body, nipping at his arms and legs and clawing at his shirt. Everyone else in the room was frozen, eyes fixated on the small creature. Saphira, meanwhile, seemed to be having the time of her life.

Cisco snapped out of his shock first. “Saphira! Here!”

The dragon immediately froze where she was clinging to Dante’s stomach, tilting her head at him and whistling in confusion.

Cisco clicked his tongue. “Come on, girl.”

With a small huff of disappointment, Saphira launched herself off of his brother and zoomed across the floor, people jumping out of the way with small cries of shock. She swarmed up onto Cisco’s shoulder and buried her face in his hair. (He didn’t know it, but she was asking if she did good.)

Looking around at all of the people who were now staring at him, his best friend, and his dragon, Cisco gulped again. “Uh, bye.”

He and Caitlin took off for the door, ignoring the sounds of shock behind them.

Okay, so maybe the birthday party had turned out better than expected.

* * *

 

Saphira nibbled on a french fry, tucked safely underneath Fire-Father’s jacket. After being scolded by both him and Snow-Sister for a long time while all of her siblings watched in confusion, Fire-Father had said that they both deserved celebration, and had snuck her out to a ‘bar’ to meet with Sparks-Brother.

“Hey!” Sparks-Brother greeted, his smell full of sharp happiness and sleek pride.

Saphira felt Fire-Father jump before he realized who it was. “Oh, hey, man. Thanks for meeting me and Saphira here. Even though, um, you can’t get drunk.”

Sparks-Brother laughed. “No worries. Hi, Saphira.” He scratched her underneath her chin. “I didn’t even know dragons could eat french fries.”

“So,” Fire-Father sighed, “how was your day?”

“Great. But, uh, Linda and I  _ did  _ break up,” Sparks-Brother replied, rubbing the sweet spot behind Saphira’s ears until he realized how it looked and pulled his hand out of his friend’s lap while blushing.

Fire-father stared at him for a second. “That’s the first time I’ve heard anyone use the word  _ ‘great’ _ to describe a breakup.”

“I have a feeling that I’m about to move forward with someone really special,” Sparks-Brother beamed. Saphira chirped in confusion, and Fire-Father patted her head as he smiled at his friend.

“Shush, Precious Flower. Okay, go ahead, Barry.”

The two laughed and Saphira hiccuped. She didn’t really understand why it was funny, but… Still. It was nice that Fire-Father and Sparks-Brother were both happy.

A new smell entered Saphira’s nostrils just as a new voice spoke up. “Hi. I don’t normally do this, but I was watching you and… Can I buy you a drink?”

Saphira wrinkled her nose as Fire-Father carefully concealed her underneath his jacket. This human smelled like metal and the same smoke that clung to Steel-Friend over her personal scent, which was sickly sweet and cloying. But while Steel-Friend also smelled warm and safe, this woman smelled cold. Saphira didn’t like it.

“Uh…” Sparks-Brother looked at Fire-Father, who shook his head to indicate that there was no way that the woman was coming on to him. “Wow. I’m really flattered, but I-”

“Actually,” the new woman interrupted, “I was talking to him.” She gestured slightly with her glass at Fire-Father, whose eyes widened.

“Um. I-I’m sorry, you said-you said you were talking to  _ me?”  _ Fire-Father asked, sounding confused. Saphira licked her paws to get the last of the french fry salt. Salt was good and tasty.

“Yeah, I just told my friends over there that I thought you were cute,” the woman answered. “And they dared me to come over here to talk to you. So… Please talk to me.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I suppose I can talk to you for a little bit,” Fire-Father said, glancing subconsciously down at the dragon that was secretly hidden inside of his jacket. He elbowed Sparks-Brother lightly in the ribs and lowered his voice down to a stage whisper. “Dude, get out.”

“Yeah, I was just leaving,” Sparks-Brother said loudly. He clapped Fire-Father on the shoulder. “Make me proud,” he muttered. As soon as he had passed the woman on the way out, he spun around and mouthed  _ “Whooo!”  _ to Fire-Father, who smiled.

“I’m Lisa, by the way,” the woman said, taking Sparks-Brother’s seat.

“Hi, Cisco,” Fire-Father replied, shaking her hand.

“I’m just in town for the symposium at Mercury Labs,”  _ Lisa  _ said with a smile.

“Really?” Fire-Father sounded surprised. “What do you do?”

“Oh, I’m a structural engineer,” Lisa announced proudly. At Fire-Father’s disbelieving look she laughed. “Why do you look so surprised? Can’t a girl be an engineer?”

“No, of course. That’s-” Fire-Father said hastily. “Uh, you just don’t look like an engineer.”

“I can’t help how I look,” Lisa (she need a  _ proper _ dragon name) murmured, looking Fire-Father up and down.

“I-I mean it’s good,” Fire-Father stammered. “It’s a great look. It’s a great look.”

“You don’t look so bad yourself.”

Saphira hissed softly, inaudible over the background sounds of the bar. She could see what was going on here. This… This Lisa was trying to be mates with Fire-Father! She didn’t even notice that her claws were digging into Fire-Father’s stomach until he winced in pain. Saphira immediately pulled her paws back in apology. Fire-Father laughed to cover up his wince.

“Am I being pranked right now?” He asked.

In reply, Lisa leaned forwards and-no! No! No! Saphira did  _ not  _ like this, not one bit! Why did human noses have to be so bad at smelling things? The dragonlet could practically  _ taste  _ the layers of deception on this girl. But she couldn’t just attack-Snow-Sister and Fire-Father had made it very clear that no matter how much Music-Human had deserved it, Saphira should not have attacked him.

Saphira would wait. When this woman least expected it, she would attack.

* * *

 

“I can’t believe this,” Fire-Father said happily as he entered the house that Lisa had brought him to, a fuming Saphira still stowed safely away underneath his jacket. “This day started out so terrible but now it’s turning out pretty damn good!”

“I’ll say,”  _ Lisa _ (who still had no real name) purred as Fire-Father pulled off his jacket, keeping Saphira wrapped up and out of sight.

“Wow,” Fire-Father muttered, looking around at the room that he was in. “Look at this. These are nice digs.”

“Oh, we’re just squatting,” Lisa dismissed.

“We?” Fire-Father asked, and Saphira peeked out a small gap in the folds of the jacket as a note of surprise and apprehension entered his voice.

“Yeah.” Lisa reached up and… Pulled off her hair? Oh, it wasn’t really her hair. It was just on top of her real hair, which was actually dark instead of fair like it had been. A low note of danger entered her voice, just as a new and dangerous scent entered Saphira’s nostrils. “Me and my brother.”

As the woman (Golden-Enemy, that was her name, for her fake hair and for what she might have been doing to Fire-Father) flicked the light on, a low voice spoke up from behind them. “Hello, Cisco.” Tucking herself down into the dark relative safety of the jacket, Saphira watched as a man advanced out of the shadows.  _ He  _ was the sharp cold scent that Saphira had caught on Golden-Enemy earlier. But where was the dark smoke that had mixed lightly with the human woman’s own personal sickly sweet scent? “What exactly are your intentions with my sister?”

“Oh,  _ come _ on,” Fire-Father groaned. “I should’ve known better. I am not  _ that _ lucky.” He looked at the man fearfully. “Please don’t kill me for kissing your sister.”

“You kissed him?” The strange cold man said, looking at Golden-Enemy.

“You’re not Dad, Lenny,” Golden-Enemy cooed as she flipped her hair.

“I know. Dad’s in jail,” ‘Lenny’ dismissed. He smirked at Fire-Father dangerously. “Sterling role model.”

“What do you want, Snart?” Fire-Father asked with bravery that he clearly didn’t really feel.

“Guns. Heat and cold, to be precise,” ‘Lenny’ or ‘Snart’ clarified.

Fire-Father shook his head. “There’s no way I’m making weapons for you. Never again.”

The cold man simply arched an eyebrow before blinking slowly. “Mick.”

A door behind them opened and a man wearing a gag was thrown through it onto the ground, followed by the human source of the smoky scent that clung to the house that Saphira and Fire-Father were trapped in. The dragonlet recognized the smell of the man wearing the gag even before Fire-Father realized who it was.

_ “Music-Human,”  _ she hissed softly in shock.

“I know I would do everything in my power to protect my family,” the cold man growled, walking forwards until he was standing just behind Fire-Father. “The question is… Will you?”

Fire-Father looked from Music-Human to the jacket where Saphira was hiding and finally to the cold man (Iceshard-Enemy, Saphira decided).

* * *

Saphira sprang from shadow to shadow, seeing as how she had abandoned the jacket when she was left alone in the room. She had to find Fire-Father, she had to make sure that everyone was safe and that none of the enemies (Golden-Enemy, Iceshard-Enemy, and Blistering-Enemy) hurt him. If they had, she would make sure that they didn’t again. She would protect Fire-Father from people that wanted to hurt him.

And maybe she’d protect Music-Human too. It depended.

She landed on top of something like a bookshelf that had plenty of things for her to hide behind just as Fire-Father spoke to Music-Human (weren’t they clutchmates?), who was tied up next to him. “Dante. Dante, just keep cool, okay? Let me do my thing.”

“Oh, really?” Music-Human hissed at him, trying to twist free of the ropes around his hands and wrists (the gag had been removed, something that Saphira doubted was really necessary-he was more annoying without it than he was when he was silent). “And, what, you’re going to save us with your ‘mechanical engineering’ skills?”

“Right now my skills are the only things keeping us alive, so if I were you, I would shut up,” Fire-Father snapped at his brother, and Saphira would have burbled in approval if it would not have alerted the enemies to her position.

“You shut up,” Music-Human retorted.

“Ah!” Someone shouted, and Saphira pressed her spine back against the wall as she recognized Blistering-Enemy’s scent. “There she is! I missed this baby.” He picked up one of the things from the table that Saphira assumed that Fire-Father had built.

“Here it is, all finished,” Fire-Father said nervously. “You gonna let us go now?”

“You know,” Iceshard-Enemy began, making Saphira’s muscles tense, “I took apart the first gun you made me apart dozens of times, learned how it ticked, what went where.” He looked at Fire-Father and then nodded to one of the guns. Fire-Father picked it up and handed it to him. “Thought you could tamper with the firing pin without me noticing? Nice try, kid.” He set the piece of machinery back down on the table before pushing it into the gun. It glowed and made a small whining sound as it fired up.  _ “Yes…” _

“Lenny, where’s  _ my _ gun?” Golden-Enemy asked sweetly as she approached the table, moving around Blistering-Enemy. “Girl’s gotta defend herself. Besides, why should you two have all the fun?”

Iceshard-Enemy nodded. “My sister needs a weapon,” he said to Fire-Father. “Something that suits her personality.”

“Make me something pretty and toxic,” Golden-Enemy ordered. “Like me. How about something with… Gold?”

“Gold,” Fire-Father said, shaking his head. He sighed before puffing up his cheeks into a small bitter laugh. Saphira knew what gold was-it was one of the shiny things that dragons naturally coveted. But she also knew that getting gold was not nearly as important as making sure that Fire-Father stayed safe. He may have been momentarily unharmed, but that could change. And he was probably hungry and thirsty. Saphira had managed to catch a small mouse (yuck) and lap up some of the water dripping out of a broken faucet, but Fire-Father and Music-Man were not so lucky.

How were they going to escape?

* * *

 

The other dragonlets knew that something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong, and they  _ needed  _ to find Fire-Father! They needed to find Saphira! What if something bad had happened? Why weren’t the humans acknowledging that something had happened to them? The dragonlets had even spent the night at the Star Lair! That never happened unless something went wrong!

Finally,  _ finally _ , Snow-Sister said something to Sparks-Brother about it. “Have you talked to Cisco? I’ve been trying to call him on his cell, but… He’s not answering.” Snow-Sister paused and bit her lip, although the four dragonlets were all silently urging him to continue. “I’m kind of worried about him. He had a rough night, and then he took Saphira out with him.”

Sparks-Brother smiled. “Trust me, it got better.” His phone buzzed and he pulled it out. “Hey, Joe, what’s up?” There was a pause, and then the smile abruptly dropped from his face as it melted into shock. “Wait, Cold is back?” Dark-Friend and Snow-Sister looked up at him while the four remaining dragonlets tilted their heads in confusion. After another long moment of crushing silence, Sparks-Brother hung up. He turned to look at Snow-Sister and Dark-Friend, who smiled bitterly.

“Well, this day just keeps getting better, doesn’t it?"

* * *

 

Saphira watched as Blistering-Enemy, Iceshard-Enemy, and Golden-Enemy sat in a loose circle, draped over cushy armchairs that had been dragged into the room. Even if the house wasn’t  _ technically  _ theirs, it might as well have been at this point. Saphira gritted her teeth to stop herself from growling in anger and disgust. She couldn’t alert her enemies to her existence, not when she and Fire-Father (and Music-Human to a smaller extent) were still so far from freedom.

Golden-Enemy sat with her legs crossed, the gun that Fire-Father had been forced to make for her in her lap. She had tested it out on one of the books-it seemed like it coated the outside in a layer of gold, something that Saphira had to restrain herself from going after. “So, Lenny,” she began, arching an eyebrow at Iceshard-Enemy, “remind me again why we’re hitting the Santini’s?”

Iceshard-Enemy rolled his eyes and replied, although Saphira wasn’t paying attention to what he said. She was more focused on eyeing the jump from the ornate grandfather clock where she was carefully perched to one of the many bookshelves that lined quite a few of the rooms. The young dragon knew that she could make it if she used her small wings to glide across the gap-the real question was whether or not the trio of enemies would see her. If they did, who knew what they would do to her? Worse yet, who knew what they would do to Fire-Father?

Saphira waited until all attention was on Blistering-Enemy before she sprang from her perched, swooping down and alighting on the top of the bookshelf.

A low whining sound was the only warning that she got before one of the globes behind her was frozen.

Saphira froze, crouching behind a large potted plant on top of the bookshelf. She folded herself up until she was as small as was physically possible, holding her breath out of instinct.

“Why did you shoot?” Golden-Enemy asked.

“Saw a rat,” Iceshard-Enemy answered with a shrug. “I missed.”

“Getting, rusty, Lenny?” Golden-Enemy teased. Her laughter followed the trio out of the room, and Saphira closed her eyes for a moment. That had been too close for comfort.

* * *

 

The four dragonlets that were still at STAR Labs huddled in a pile of scales and wings at Sparks-Brother’s feet. Dark-Friend was showing off something on the multi-purpose monitor that the humans used for quite a lot of things. The only reason why the dragons were staring so intently at it was because they could see Fire-Father.

“So there’s Cisco getting into a car with Snart’s sister,” Dark-Friend said, clicking on the picture to make it zoom in. “The license plate is iced over.”

Sparks-Brother suddenly slammed his hand down on the table, making the dragonlets jump. Vermithrax growled at the human, emotions easily brought to the surface because of the danger that his family was in. It would have been bad enough if Fire-Father was captured alone, but these people had taken Saphira too. Sparks-Brother rubbed his forehead as he dropped the bag of ice that he had been holding up to it.

“Alright, Dr. Wells, you were right,” he spat out, although it was more full of anger at the woman who had taken Fire-Father than at anyone else. “I screwed with time, and now time is screwing with me. Cold is back”-he gestured to the screen-“he kidnapped Cisco, and Iris is-”

“Stop right there before you cause another disruption to the timeline,” Dark-Friend interrupted, voice icily calm and thinly concealing frustration and anger. Vermithrax hissed at him.

“Please, Dr. Wells. Please, I have to talk to someone,” Sparks-Brother pleaded. Smaug nuzzled his leg gently.

There was a long pause before Dark-Friend finally spoke. “Go ahead.”

“In the previous version of today,” Sparks-Brother began as Smaug hopped up onto his lap. “Captain Singh is seriously injured, Joe is in danger, and Iris said she had feelings for me.”

“And now Cisco’s life is on the line,” Dark-Friend mused, causing the dragonlets to perk up at the mention of Fire-Father’s human name, “and Iris has no idea that she confessed those feelings.”

“But… She still has them, right?” Sparks-Brother asked, although he sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

“The unconscious mind, Barry, is a powerful thing,” Dark-Friend said, moving forwards. Vermithrax tensed automatically before Griffin nudged him, eyes narrowed. “It sounds like it took this apparent disaster to jar those feelings loose. And without that disaster, those feelings remain deeper down. Unaccessed.”

As the two spoke, Smaug hopped down from Sparks-Brother’s lap and padded across the floor to the spot underneath a metal table, whistling for his siblings to follow him as he did so. They obeyed, running up to his side and pressing up against each other. He growled to them.  _ “Fire-Father and Saphira are in trouble. We have to make sure that the humans get them back.” _

_ “They will, Smaug-Brother,”  _ Griffin squeaked.  _ “Sparks-Brother is faster than any of the other humans, and Snow-Sister and Dark-Friend are smart. They’ll get them back.”  _ She paused.  _ “W-won’t they?” _

_ “They have to,”  _ Vermithrax snarled angrily.  _ “If they don’t, we’ll go out and bring them back home ourselves.” _

* * *

Saphira stayed still in her hiding spot, watching as Blistering-Enemy spoke about fire to Fire-Father and Music-Human. She already knew about fire, of course, with that same other level of Knowing that told her how to name people properly, how to one day fly and breath fire when she was old enough, how to speak with her siblings.

“You gonna admire those or are you gonna drink ‘em?” Music-Human asked from where he was tied up across from Fire-Father.

“Both,” Blistering-Enemy growled, swallowing the flaming liquid in one of the glasses. Saphira wrinkled her nose-they smelled like the bar that Fire-Father had taken her to where Golden-Enemy had captured him.

Music-Human spoke to Fire-Father, but he didn’t say anything in words that she recognized. The dragon blinked slowly. Apparently just because she could understand Fire-Father and some of the other humans didn’t mean that she could understand Music-Human.

“I told her you wanted to become a priest,” Music-Human finally said, after he and Fire-Father exchanged words in the other language that Saphira didn’t know. Fire-Father stared at him. “Broke her heart.”

“Why’d you do that?” Fire-Father asked softly, shooting a furtive glance at where Blistering-Enemy was still drinking.

“Because I was jealous of you, man,” Music-Human sighed, shaking his head. “Even then, I knew exactly where my life was headed. Nowhere.”

“Dante, that’s not true,” Fire-Father denied, shaking his head slightly.

“I live at home,” Music-Human pointed out, “and I work a crap job for no pay.”

“Yeah, but you still manage to be Mom and Dad’s favorite,” Fire-Father muttered.

Music-Human huffed out what sounded like a bitter little laugh. “I don’t even know why. It’s because they still think of me as their son, the concert pianist. But you, man, they  _ never _ understood your talents. Never understood that you pursued your passion no matter what. And me, I was just too scared to even try.” 

He switched back to the other language, this time looking directly at Blistering-Friend. Then he made eye contact with Fire-Father and started to bang his chair against the ropes that held him. Fire-Father tried to stop him, and Saphira stiffened. No, no, no, this was bad, Music-Human would die and then Fire-Father would die and then she would die trying to protect them and then Golden-Enemy, Blistering-Enemy, and Iceshard-Enemy would keep hurting people and killing people and-

The table crashed to the ground, and then Music-Human was charging at Blistering-Enemy, holding a part of the table leg that he had broken off when he freed himself from the ropes that bound him.

He swung the table leg at Blistering-Enemy, sending him tumbling down to the ground. But the human man caught himself and went after Music-Human, breaking a glass over his head and easily bringing him down. Fire-Father managed to escape, and as soon as Saphira realized that he was moving to assist his clutchmate she made a split-second decision and sprang into the fray with an angry yowl.

She sank her teeth into Blistering-Enemy’s hand as he punched Fire-Father in the face, making him rip her away and fling her across the room. Saphira sprang back up to her feet, adrenaline pumping, and attacked again. She tried to sink her teeth into Blistering-Enemy’s leg, but he just grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and held her up, regarding her curiously. Saphira snarled at tried to claw his eyes out, making him drop her and kick out at her with one of his feet, sending the small dragon tumbling before he turned around and punched Fire-Father again (he was trying to sneak up behind the man).

“Mick!” Iceshard-Enemy shouted, marching down the stairs and into the room. “Mick, calm down.” When that didn’t work, he growled in frustration. “Mick! We need them!”

The gun in his hand made the familiar whining sound, and Saphira ducked for cover, only to be scooped up by Blistering-Enemy, who payed no mind to the nicks and scratches that he was getting in his hands as she clawed at them. Saphira chirped in fear and anger as Blistering-Enemy delivered yet another blow to the already-injured form of Fire-Father.

Golden-Enemy appeared beside her brother. “Mick?” She said sweetly. “Baby, it sounds like you’re hungry.” She pulled him off of Fire-Father, regarding Saphira with narrowed eyes. “How about you and I grab some dinner?”

He shook her free and held up Saphira as Fire-Father clutched at his head. “What is this thing?” He growled, holding the dragonlet up for inspection. Blistering-Enemy looked down at Fire-Father. “Is it his?”

Iceshard-Enemy narrowed his eyes. “Don’t know, but I bet that that’s the rat that I shot at earlier.” He plucked her from Blistering-Enemy’s hands, and Saphira squirmed in fear. Iceshard-Enemy looked down at Fire-Father. “Is this yours?”

Saphira used his momentary distraction to take a deep breath, throw her hope to the four winds that was she was about to try would work, and exhaled-spitting flames into Iceshard-Enemy’s face.

He dropped her on instinct, and Saphira bolted for Fire-Father. But she was too slow, and Golden-Enemy picked her up in a heartbeat before passing her off to Blistering-Enemy. The human man looked at her with satisfaction, and she remembered his reaction to the (lovely) fire earlier. Oh no.

“Wait!” Fire-Father yelped as he sprang to his feet, still clutching his nose and eye. “Don’t hurt her! She’s mine, I brought her with me to the bar and then wrapped her up in my jacket so that Lisa wouldn’t see her”-he blushed-“but she’s just a baby, really. That’s the first time that she’s ever breathed fire, we didn’t even know if she could, and-”

Iceshard-Enemy cut him off. “I like you, kid. You’re smart, you pulled yourself up from humble beginnings. You seem like a good brother. And a good owner to…” He looked at Saphira, who hissed at him angrily. “This.”

Fire-Father looked back and forth between Saphira, Music-Human, and Iceshard-Enemy. “Huh?”

“You answer one question for me, and I’ll let you and your brother walk, although we’ll have to see about your pet,” Iceshard-Enemy looked at Saphira as he spoke, making the dragon cringe even as she growled.

Fire-Father blinked and winced in pain at the action. He bit his lip before sighing. “Okay. What’s the question?”

“The Flash.” Iceshard-Enemy paused and narrowed his eyes dangerously at Fire-Father. “Who is he?”

Saphira narrowed her own eyes into yellow slits. They were talking about Sparks-Brother, weren’t they? What did they want with him? She wasn’t going to let them have him, in any case. They had already hurt Fire-Father and Music-Human, and she couldn’t let them have anybody else.

Fire-Father stared at him for a second before shrugging weakly. “I-I swear, he-he always wears a mask.”

Without saying a word, Iceshard-Enemy charged up his gun and fired it at Music-Human, causing him to scream in pain as the strange bluish white flames hit his hands.

“No!” Fire-Father screamed, throwing himself down at his clutchmate’s side with a cry of horror. “No, stop!”

Music-Human (okay, maybe he  _ was  _ Music-Friend now) let out a choked sob of pain, and Fire-Father looked up at Iceshard-Enemy. Saphira could see that his fingers were blackened, as if they had been burnt by the strange awful fire-ice. Was that going to happen to Fire-Father? She couldn’t let it!

“This is first-degree frostbite,” Iceshard-Enemy said, unconcerned with Music-Friend’s (he was a friend now) moans of pain. Fire-Father tried desperately to help him, but he obviously didn’t know how. “Your brother could recover with proper treatment. If not, all his tendons, blood vessels, and nerves will freeze. His fingers will need to be amputated. No more concertos for the Ramon family holidays. Make me ask again and it might just be your little pet on the receiving end of my gun. Now tell me,  _ who is the Flash?” _

Fire-Father looked up from Music-Friend, tears streaking down his face. When he didn’t say anything, Iceshard-Enemy sighed and pointed the gun at Music-Friend’s legs. Before he could shoot, Fire-Father leaned forwards with his arms outstretched to shield Music-Friend’s body with his own.

“Barry Allen,” he choked out. “Bartholomew Henry Allen. He’s the Flash.”

Iceshard-Enemy surveyed him for a moment before nodding to Golden-Enemy and Blistering-Enemy. “He’s telling the truth. Take him and his brother to the hospital-drop them off outside.” When Fire-Father made a small weak sound of protest, Iceshard-Enemy looked at him coldly. “What?”

“Saphira,” he said, gesturing to the small dragon. She chirped to him, hoping that he could understand that she wanted to stay with him and  _ not  _ with these enemies. “She’s mine. Mine and I need her. She has-” He cut himself off before he could mention the four other dragonlets back at STAR Labs. “She’s my baby.”

“Don’t push your luck, Ramon,” the criminal replied, taking Saphira from Blistering-Enemy’s hands with ease. Saphira yowled with fear, anger, and pain as she struggled to escape, but the high pitched sound of the awful ice-fire gun firing up made her freeze in fear. “You’re getting off lucky, all things considered.”

“I’m not leaving without her!” Fire-Father insisted. Iceshard-Enemy narrowed his eyes at him and pointed the charged-up gun in his direction, making the human automatically flinch back. Saphira whimpered. She had seen what the strange weapon had done to Music-Friend. She didn’t want it to happen to Fire-Father. Or to her, either.

“Well,” Iceshard-Enemy drawled, “you’re going to have to, otherwise I might change my mind about only shooting one of you today.”

Golden-Enemy and Blistering-Enemy advanced on Fire-Father and Music-Friend, pulling them up to their feet and then back towards one of the exits. Saphira wailed and tried to twist free, but the hand around her middle was too tight and it pinned her wings against her sides. She tried to bite and claw at Iceshard-Enemy’s hands, but he didn’t seem to notice. And she didn’t know if she even  _ could  _ breathe fire again. She was trapped.

Saphira watched helplessly as her Fire-Father was dragged away (he tried to break free, but Blistering-Enemy punched him in the jaw again, heedless of his pleading to give Saphira back to him) before being set down on the broken remains of the table by Iceshard-Enemy. He watched her calmly. “So, your name is Saphira.” He suddenly smirked. “Lisa watched that movie.”

The blue-scaled dragonlet ignored him in favor of looking around for exits and escape routes. Maybe if she lit the table beneath her on fire… If it was even possible. She didn’t even know how she had been able to breath fire last time, much less if she could do it again.

But she had to try. She had to get back to Fire-Father, had to make sure that he and Music-Friend were safe. She had to make sure that Sparks-Brother and Snow-Sister weren’t going to get hurt by the enemies.

So she tried to do it again-and accidentally launched herself backwards with the force of her sneeze. Luckily, said sneeze brought a burst of hot flames along with it, scorching a mark into the uneven tabletop. Unfortunately, it didn’t do anything else, like burn Iceshard-Enemy, but at least it was progress.

Iceshard-Enemy himself smirked at her. “Nice try. I wonder-”

Whatever he had been about to say was silenced by Saphira lunging forwards in a blur of bright blue scales and sinking her teeth deep into his nose.

Even if Iceshard-Enemy  _ was  _ evil and dangerous and terrifying, and even if he had hurt Music-Friend and Fire-Father, he was still human. Which meant that it still hurt a  _ lot  _ to be bitten on the nose by a dragon with a powerful bite and razor-sharp teeth that sometimes drew blood even when they were trying to be gentle. Most people would have screamed their lungs out, or at the very least jerked backwards and then tried to rip the creature off (one of which Iceshard-Enemy  _ did _ do, and it wasn’t the screaming, although he did let out a single loud howl of pain and surprise). But Saphira was also trying to claw at her enemy, and the human man was more concerned about that for the time being-her claws were awfully close to his eyes.

That was when the dragon launched herself backwards and raced across the table away from Iceshard-Enemy at her top speed, heart pounding. Her claws dug into the wood before she jumped off of it, wings spreading to give her the maximum amount of distance away from her opponent. Years of being the top predator on the food chain were paying off, the thrill of the hunt rushing through her blood. For a moment Saphira even entertained the thought of  _ truly  _ attacking him, of ripping out Iceshard-Enemy’s throat and letting his blood stain her talons. Even if she was small, she was fierce.

That was when a blast of blueish white ice fired over her head, and Saphira remembered that she was hopelessly outmatched.

She spun around and charged towards the exit that she had spotted while looking for escape routes to take with Fire-Father. But now that he had Music-Friend were hopefully free (she refused to consider the alternative), she could use them. If she managed to outrun Iceshard-Enemy.

Fortunately for the dragonlet, the door was close by and easy enough for her to access. There was also a tall tree right outside that she could climb in order to get away.

Unfortunately, there was no way for her to get the door open.

The wood floor directly behind her was frozen by the cold gun, and Saphira just barely managed to pull her tail free of the frost.

Looking around, Saphira brightened as she spotted a cracked window, opened by Blistering-Enemy at Golden-Enemy’s request (although the baby dragon didn’t know that). Diving underneath a chair, she jumped up onto the desk that it belonged to and then up onto the windowsill. Sliding on her belly until she was on the outside, Saphira raised her chin up proudly and took a moment to gloat at the human on the other side of the glass.

_ “Nice try, Iceshard-Enemy,”  _ she chirped, right before the window exploded into shards of iced-over glass. Saphira yelped and jumped backwards, hind legs slipping off into empty air as sharp pieces of glass rained down around her.

For a moment the dragonlet hung there, just long enough to see Iceshard-Enemy glaring down at her angrily. Then she released her claws and let herself drop, spinning in the air like a cat and landing on her feet. Stumbling for the first few steps because the fall had twisted one of her legs (just because she had landed on her feet didn’t mean that she hadn’t hurt herself while doing it), Saphira ran off into a bush and crouched there, trembling with leftover adrenaline and fear.

How was she going to get home?

* * *

 

The four dragonlets curled up together, waiting for Fire-Father to return. Snow-Sister, Sparks-Brother, and Dark-Friend were searching all on the screens somehow, but it didn’t seem to be doing anything.

“There’s nothing on the satellite thermography,” Snow-Sister said, frustrated.

“You were right,” Sparks-Brother sighed, closing his eyes as he clicked on something on the screen. He sounded angry with himself, and Samug almost got up to comfort him. But he didn’t. “This is all my fault.”

“How is this your fault?” Snow-Sister asked him with a small frown. If Saphira had been there, she would have known how to help Snow-Sister. The young blue dragonlet had always been the best at communicating with the human woman.

“Brave heart, Barry,” Dark-Friend sighed. Vermithrax kind of wanted to bite him. “We’ll get Cisco back.”

Suddenly, an achingly familiar scent reached the dragon’s nostrils. All of them sprang to their feet as one, just as Fire-Father’s voice reached the human’s ears.

“I’m back.”

The humans spun around just as Fire-Father went down underneath a mob of dragons, all four of them purring and licking him and clambering up and down his arms. They could hear Snow-Sister asking if he was okay, but it was background noise. Fire-Father,  _ their _ Fire-Father, was back, and nothing would take him away from them ever again. But-

_ “Where’s Saphira-Sister?”  _ Mushu asked, burying his face in Fire-Father’s shirt. It smelled sour and sickly sweet and scorched. What had happened to him? What had happened to his sister?

Smaug hissed in surprise as he was suddenly crushed against Fire-Father as Snow-Sister hugged him tightly. But it didn’t diminish his sudden worry for his sister. Where was she? How come she hadn’t returned to them along with Fire-Father?

Griffin wailed softly and crouched down on Fire-Father’s shoulder. Horror and grief was coming off of him in waves, mixed with terror, both old and new. Was it for Saphira? Was Griffin’s sister dead and gone, never to return to them? No, no, she was wrong, she  _ had  _ to be wrong, Saphira had to still be alive.

Vermithrax growled as he draped himself around Fire-Father’s neck-he was getting a little bit too big and heavy to do that, but that wasn’t going to stop him. And fear for Fire-Father’s safety wasn’t what was making him growl; he was back, cleary. But he was scared for Saphira. As much as he loved to fight with his siblings, he still cared about them deeply. They were his, after all, and nobody could touch what was his. So why hadn’t she come back?

“What happened?” Sparks-Brother asked.

“How did you escape?” That came from Dark-Friend.

“And where’s Saphira?” Snow-Sister added, looking around as if she were expecting the young blue dragonlet to pop up out from behind Fire-Father.

“I didn’t. Escape, I mean,” Fire-Father clarified.

“Snart just let you go?” Sparks-Brother questioned disbelievingly. “Why?”

“He tortured my brother,” Fire-Father said softly. “And Saphira escaped f-for a while, but I didn’t know if they had found her or not. He said that he was gonna kill him and maybe her too, if I didn’t…” Fire-Father paused. “If I didn’t tell him…” He trailed off again, lowering his gaze down to the floor. Griffin purred softly to comfort him as his eyes started to glimmer with tears.

“Tell him what?” Snow-Sister prompted gently.

“Who the Flash really is,” Fire-Father whispered, although it was still loud in the silent room. There was a long pause before anybody spoke, and when someone did it was Fire-Father trying to explain. “I-honestly, man, they could’ve  _ killed  _ me.” Smaug licked his face gently with his sandpaper tongue, trying to stop the tears even as they started. “But they were gonna kill my b-brother. And they had Saphira, too, and they wouldn’t even let me take her with me. They still have her. I couldn’t let them kill him. Or her. I just… I couldn’t let them do that.”

“Hey,” Sparks-Brother said softly, walking up to Fire-Father. The dragonlets tensed. Was he going to hurt him? They had almost lost Fire-Father once (and they had lost Saphira, but they’d get her back somehow), they weren’t going to watch Sparks-Brother hurt him now.

“I’m sorry, Barry, I’m so sorry-” Fire-Father began apologizing.

“No,” Sparks-Brother said quietly, resting his hand on the shoulder not occupied by Griffin or by Vermithrax’s haunches. “I put you in that position.” He pulled Fire-Father close, hugging him tightly. “I’m the one who’s sorry.” Fire-Father stepped away, all of the dragonlets still clinging to him. He turned and started to walk away, taking the creatures with him. “Where are you going?”

Fire-Father leaned forwards, bracing his hands against the console that they used to track Sparks-Brother’s movements. “I don’t deserve to be here. I won’t be the one to put you in jeopardy, not again. Never again.” He looked at the other three. “I let you down, Barry, and I let Dante down, and I let Saphira down. I don’t deserve to be here.”

He turned and left along with the dragonlets. But he didn’t go far, only into an abandoned room where he sat, leaning against the wall with his head between his knees. The dragonlets curled up around him, and Fire-Father looked at them.

“How can you four forgive me?” Fire-Father asked them. “I left your sister behind. Even if you don’t  _ really  _ understand the whole thing with Barry-which is bad enough, believe me-you have to realize how bad that is, right? I don’t know how dragons feel about love, but…” He sighed. “I love you guys. All of you. And the others, too-that little squint that Caitlin gets when she’s trying not to smile, the way that Barry’s face lights up when he goes just a little bit faster than before, how happy Ronnie was when he kissed Caitlin for the first time after the whole FIRESTORM thing, how Dr. Wells helped me  _ make  _ something out of myself. But I destroyed all of that.”

_ “We still love you, Fire-Father,”  _ Mushu assured him.  _ “Saphira-Sister isn’t dead, is she? We can still get her back!” _

_ “And Sparks-Brother isn’t angry at you,”  _ Griffin added.  _ “He’s just scared for you. I could smell it. Your human nose is just too weak.” _

_ “Snow-Sister and Dark-Friend still care about you too,”  _ Smaug murmured. He lightly flicked Fire-Father with the tip of his tail.  _ “But you left before they could tell you so.” _

Fire-Father shook his head. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. I was never going to amount to anything, anyways. Even if I can make cool stuff, I was never going to get any credit for it. Unless it was from someone like Snart, his hot but equally evil sister, and Mick Rory. I built them their guns.” He paused. “But I couldn’t just let my brother die.”

_ “You did the right thing,”  _ Vermithrax spoke up at last, and the other three dragonlets looked at him in surprise.  _ “Saphira-Sister may have been left behind, but at least you are safe. And we  _ will  _ get her back. Even if I have to claw open the ones who took her myself.” _

Fire-Father closed his eyes for a moment. “I guess it doesn’t really matter if you guys can understand me. Say goodbye to this place.” He looked around. “It’ll probably be the last time that you ever see it.”

* * *

 

Saphira padded along the side of a dirty cement building, looking for the last remains of Fire-Father's scent. She had lost his trail a while back, and currently had no idea where she was going or where she was. Tracking someone after they had gotten into a car with three other people and then driven off who-knows-where was too big of a task for even a dragon to accomplish.

She was so absorbed in her task of trying to find any remaining tendrils of Fire-Father’s scent that she didn’t even notice that she was getting close to a human until she bumped into them.

They jumped and spun around, causing Saphira to skitter backwards. She  _ really  _ didn’t want to make any more enemies than she already had, although it looked like it was going to be unavoidable. Saphira arched her back halfheartedly in a weak attempt to make herself look bigger than she actually was, hissing at the human in front of her.

They sighed. “Oh, it’s just one of you.”

Saphira tilted her head at him. What was that supposed to mean? She’d certainly never smelled this person before-wait… She leaned forwards and sniffed them, ignoring the way that they narrowed their eyes down at her and tried to walk away.

The blue dragonlet chirped in satisfaction. She  _ did  _ know this human’s scent after all! It was very faintly layered in places throughout the Star Lair, like down where the boxes full of humans were and in one of the rooms that none of the people ever went in. Did that mean that he was a friend, like Smoke-Friend and Gloweyes-Friend, or an enemy like Stormy-Enemy and Mist-Enemy?

The human huffed and turned, starting to walk away. Saphira squeaked and started to follow after them. The person (they needed a name, she’d have to think of something to call them) glared down at her. “Go away. I’m not Cisco, obviously.”

Saphira rolled her eyes. Of course this human wasn’t Fire-Father. She wasn’t  _ stupid.  _ But this human was a friend, and he could take her back to the Star Lair. She sank her teeth into the hem of his pants and tugged on it.

“Sop that,” they sighed, picking her up by the back of her neck. She chirped happily. Finally, they were getting somewhere! Saphira squirmed free of their grip and balanced on the person’s arm for a second before jumping onto their shoulder. They groaned and tried to shove her off. “Leave me alone. I can’t feed you, you know. Get off of me.”

Saphira licked their ear before tilting her head to one side in curiosity. He tasted like metal and skin, as if there was metal  _ inside  _ of him and there was still traces of it on his flesh.  _ “What are you?” _

After several more failed attempts to shove her off of their shoulder, the person gave up. “Alright, fine. I’ll take you back to STAR Labs-if they spot me, they won’t be able to do anything because I have you as leverage. And if they don’t, I’ll just leave you outside. If that’s what it takes to get you to leave, I’ll do it.”

Saphira whistled happily.  _ “Thank you…” _ She paused. What would be a good name for this person?  _ “Thank you Song-Friend!” _

“For the record, I’m only doing this because Lisa Snart owes me money, and I know that she’s one of the people who took you.”

* * *

“How did it go?” Cisco asked Barry nervously as he reappeared inside of STAR Labs in a whoosh of wind and yellow lighting.

“Fine, I think,” he sighed. “I mean, he’s holding my secret identity above my head, but he won’t kill anybody else. I made sure that he knew that I don’t care who he tells my secret to, as long as he doesn’t go after anybody else that I care about. He also mention Saphira, he even called her by name. Although,” he added with a small frown, “there were some marks on his nose. Like he’d been bitten by a cat, or something.”

“Do you think it was Saphira?” Cisco asked nervously. By his feet, Vermithrax raised his head and blew a small ring of smoke out of his nostrils. Griffin chirped from her usual place on his shoulder.

Barry nodded with a small sigh. Cisco chewed his lip anxiously. “He might have shot her for that. He threatened to do it before, after he-after he shot Dante.” Griffin nuzzled his ear. “What if she’s hurt? Or worse?”

Barry rested his hand on Cisco’s shoulder (the one not occupied by a worried Griffin). “We’ll get Saphira back. I promise.”

A blur of movement from one of the security cameras caught Caitlin’s eye. She pointed. “Look!”

There was a flicker of motion like the edge of a coat or a cape disappearing out of the camera’s range, and then tiny shape that could have been a cat or a dog started circling restlessly underneath the camera. It reared up on its hind legs and blew a small spout of flames into the air, and Cisco punched the air with a small whoop. “Saphira!”

“She can breathe fire now?” Caitlin muttered under her breath in surprise, and Cisco nodded eagerly.

“Yeah, that’s probably how she escaped,” he called over his shoulder as he ran out of the room with the four remaining dragonlets on his heels.

As soon as he made it outside Saphira jumped into his arms, licking his face and chirping happily about the person that had helped her come home (although he couldn’t understand the actual words, Cisco still understood that she was happy).

Something pressed against his skin, and he momentarily pulled the dragonlet away from him to see what it was. There was something looped around Saphira’s scaly blue neck-a note attached with thread. Cisco broke the thread and read it.

_ Take better care of your things. _


	5. Tricksters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, a chapter that _isn't_ egregiously long! Don't get used to it. The other ones are all monsters.

Mushu growled at the person on the screen in front of him. Their voice was annoying, and they had tried to hurt human hatchlings. Trick-Enemy, he decided, was a very bad person.

“Talking in the third person,” Fire-Father grumbled. “That’s never a good sign.”

“You’re just mad because he named himself,” Snow-Sister teased.

“Actually, he didn’t,” Steel-Friend corrected. “Twenty years ago Central City was hit by a series of terrorist attacks. One man killed at least ten civilians and two cops. That guy called himself the Trickster.”

Fire-Father tapped something into the computer and whistled softly. “Whoa, someone was rocking the unitard.”

“James Jesse?” Snow-Sister asked softly, voice heavy with disbelief.

“Like Jesse James, only more twisted,” Steel-Friend informed her.

“Where is this… Mr. Jesse now?” Dark-Friend asked.

“He’s serving several life sentences at Iron Heights,” Steel-Friend said with a frown. Mushu huffed in agreement. He didn’t know what ‘Iron Heights’ was, but if it was a piece of metal hanging high up in the air, it sounded like this… Brightcolors-Enemy deserved it. “He was the most dangerous thing Central City had ever seen.”

“You mean, until the particle accelerator blew up,” Sparks-Brother said, sneaking a look at Dark-Friend that the dragonlets all easily caught.

“Barry and I will go see this James Jesse at Iron Heights,” Steel-Friend said, shooting Sparks-Brother a warning look as he did so. “See if he can give us anything that might help us catch his groupie.”

“I’ll analyze the video and see if I can figure out the source,” Fire-Father contributed with a nod. Griffin, who had tried not to leave his side since he had been kidnapped by the enemies, mewled in agreement and encouragement.

“Hey, Joe?” Dark-Friend called as Steel-Friend and Sparks-Brother started to leave the room. Steel-Friend paused. “Is Barry doing all right? He seems cranky.”

“Even the Flash wakes up on the wrong side of the bed some mornings,” Steel-Friend explained. Smaug huffed. He had been able to smell the apprehension and betrayal pouring off of Sparks-Brother in waves. And right now he could detect the scent of lies on the air coming from Steel-Friend. “He’s fine.”

Fire-Father glanced over his shoulder at where his friends were disappearing. Griffin nudged his cheek with her head and burbled softly. He scratched the side of her jaw. “I know, baby. He’s probably fine. We’ve all had a difficult couple of weeks.”

* * *

“This looks like nobody has been here since the ’90s,” Joe commented as he, Barry, and Smaug wandered around the inside of the warehouse that James Jesse had used as a secret hideout.

“Yeah, look at this thing,” Barry remarked, gesturing to a mannequin with Jesse’s old Trickster costume on it. Smaug growled in disapproval from his position on Barry’s shoulders, claws flexing and digging into the speedster’s skin on accident. “You think Jesse doesn’t know who this Trickster guy is?”

“He seemed pretty ticked off that someone was besmirching his bad name,” Joe said dryly.

Smaug jumped down from Barry’s shoulder and sniffed around, looking for anything out of place that could help clue the humans into the identity of the new Trickster. He’d been brought along for that exact purpose, and because he could probably be pretty useful in a fight now that he was the closest behind Saphira to breathing fire. The red dragon paused outside of a door with a clown spray-painted on it and hissed, hackles raising.

“Joe,” Barry called, walking over to where the dragon was standing. The cop followed him, and all three stood in front of the door.

Barry tested the handles before glancing at Joe, who nodded. Barry pressed his palms against the door and vibrated them, making the door tremble and unlock and causing Smaug to skitter backwards with a hiss.

“Let’s see what he’s got stashed in there,” Joe said, allowing Smaug to scramble up his body and stand on his shoulders. He was mostly resigned to the dragonlets using his body as a jungle gym at this point.

“Yeah.” Barry pulled the door open, and Smaug leaned forwards to peer into the dim lighting of the room. His sharp ears barely detected a faint ticking sound before he was suddenly swept backwards, carried along with Joe towards the other side of the warehouse to safety.

“Damn,” Joe gasped, lying on his back with Smaug perched precariously on his stomach.

“You good?” Barry asked him, picking up the small dragon and setting him down on the warehouse floor beside him.

The two slowly got to their feet, Barry allowing Smaug to climb him once he was standing up. They peered through the smoke, waving it out of their faces as they walked back into the locked room. Barry sighed as he realized that it was completely empty.

“The copycat,” he said. Smaug sneezed. “He took everything.”

* * *

Smaug wrapped his tail around his paws and narrowed his yellow eyes at the screen with Trick-Enemy on it. He had tried to hurt people-humans. Humans were soft and squishy, and they broke easily. Didn’t Trick-Enemy know that? He was a human too.

Vermithrax lashed his tail.  _ “Silly humans,”  _ he hissed. “ _ Just kill Trick-Enemy and be done with it.” _

_ “You know that that’s not how the humans do things, Vermithrax-Brother,”  _ Griffin said disapprovingly.  _ “They only kill when they have to. And they don’t have to, not yet.” _

Mushu growled.  _ “Well, we can’t let this one take Fire-Father too. We have to protect him.” _

_ “Agreed, Mushu-Brother,”  _ Saphira chirped. She looked at Fire-Father.  _ “We have to keep him safe.” _

“This was posted a few hours ago,” Dark-Friend said. “Whoever this Trickster is, he’s certainly not shy.”

“Not every criminal likes to hide in the dark,” Sparks-Brother replied, and it sounded almost like an accusation. All of the other humans (and dragons) in the room looked at him in surprise. There was a long pause before Steel-Friend spoke up.

“Cisco, can you trace where the was posted from?” He asked.

“I tried,” Fire-Father admitted. “But this guy is using some crazy Felicity-caliber scrambler like I’ve never seen. The origin of the upload is coming from hundreds of different locations. Until he uploads another video, it’s gonna be tough.”

“This psychopath has the capability to destroy the city,” Sparks-Brother said bitterly. Smaug wrinkled his nose. He didn’t understand what was going on with Sparks-Brother, but obviously something was happening.

“Hey,” Fire-Father protested, “I said tough,  _ not  _ impossible.”

“Barry, we’ll catch him,” Snow-Sister assured Sparks-Brother. “We always do.”

“Mr. Allen,” Dark-Friend began, his voice measured, “A word, please?”

As he and Sparks-Brother left the room, Snow-Sister leaned towards Fire-Father. “What do you think that was all about?” She asked. “I mean, why was Barry so…?”

Fire-Father shrugged, and Griffin bumped the side of her head against his ankle. “Dunno. Maybe he just needs a nap, or more food.”

Steel-Friend frowned and left the room through a different door than the one that Sparks-Brother and Dark-Friend had gone out of. Mushu padded after him for a few paces before pausing and letting out a low grumble off dissent that didn’t really mean anything.

For a while, Fire-Father just tapped stuff out onto the computer with Griffin providing moral support while Snow-Sister played with Saphira and Smaug. Dark-Friend helped out too after he returned. Then, after letting out a small sound of surprise, he grabbed the microphone (Sparks-Brother had come back in, put on the red suit, and then left again as a blur of motion) and spoke into it. “Heads up, Trickster’s broadcasting again.”

Smaug huffed angrily. Why was this stupid, stupid human still trying to hurt other humans? And how was he going to do that with a box, even if the box  _ was  _ also a… Whatever ‘bomb’ meant? Smaug shook his head.  _ “Humans,”  _ he murmured.  _ “Always trying to be the top predator.” _

“Guys, I can’t find it!” Sparks-Brother’s frantic voice rang through the speakers. Smaug jumped up onto the desk beside them. “I need your help.”

“There’s nothing on traffic cams or CCTV,” Snow-Sister replied nervously.

“I retasked STAR Labs’ satellite to scan for incendiary devices,” Fire-Father contributed. “A bomb that big should be giving off some kind of thermal or chemical signature.”

“Well, then why can’t you find it?” Sparks-Brother questioned, sounding even more harried than before.

“Because it’s a trick,” Dark-Friend said softly. Smaug looked at him and flicked his tail. What was that supposed to mean? “The bomb’s not there.”

“No, it  _ has  _ to be,” Sparks-Brother insisted. “I’m gonna keep looking.”

“That is what he wants,” Dark-Friend said. “For you and the police to keep running around in circles. There is something else going on. I can feel it, Barry, now trust me.”

There was another long pause, and then Sparks-Brother’s voice came again. “I’m gonna keep looking.”

“Barry,” Dark-Friend started to say, but there was no reply.

“Why doesn’t he just listen to you?” Fire-Father asked, absentmindedly stroking Griffin’s spine. Dark-Friend sighed and bit his lip, but didn’t reply.

“I found it,” Sparks-Brother’s voice rang back out through the speakers, tinged with triumph. Smaug puffed out his chest proudly.

“Uh-oh,” Fire-Father said suddenly, leaning back. When everybody looked at him, he elaborated. “There’s an explosion at Iron Heights.”

“This was all a diversion,” Dark-Friend realized.

Snow-Sister’s eyes went wide, and Saphira licked her face with her rough tongue. “The prison was the  _ real  _ target.”

“James Jesse,” Dark-Friend sighed. “I guess he’s tricked us all.”

* * *

The dragonlets divided themselves up. Griffin stayed with Fire-Father, perched on his shoulder with ease. Smaug curled up at Sparks-Brother’s feet. Vermithrax accompanied Dark-Friend, although it was really only so that he could keep an eye on the untrustworthy human. Saphira went immediately to Snow-Sister, draping herself across the woman’s shoulders despite her sharp talons. And Mushu sat beside Steel-Friend, tail curled neatly and wings arched back.

“We were able to identify the other Trickster,” Steel-Friend said, taking a few steps forward. Mushu matched his pace. “Axel Walker, age twenty-five. Apparently him and James have been corresponding through snail mail for over a decade.”

“I should have been there,” Sparks-Brother whispered. Smaug hopped to his feet and jumped into the human’s lap, pushing his horned head up against Sparks-Brother’s chin to comfort him. Snow-Sister rested a hand on his shoulder.

“We’re gonna find your dad, okay?” She said gently, Saphira making a small screeching sound of agreement from her perch.

“Definitely,” Fire-Father agreed. Griffin bobbed her head in a crude imitation a human nod.

_ “We’ll find him,”  _ she promised.

Vermithrax snorted.  _ “What do you mean? The humans will find him. Probably. Hopefully he’ll even be in one piece, too.” _

_ “But we can help the humans,”  _ Mushu pointed out.  _ “Smaug-Brother already did when Steel-Friend and Sparks-Brother were looking for Brightcolors-Enemy’s lair.” _

As the dragons spoke, Sparks-Brother stood up, sending Smaug spilling out of his lap and onto the ground. The red dragon squeaked indignantly before huffing to himself and taking off after the human, easily following his scent and catching up to the man since he was walking at a normal speed.  _ “Why are you going down into The Loop?” _

‘The Loop’ was what the dragonlets called the boxes where the humans kept other humans, ones like Sparks-Brother. Metahuman, they were called. Human names were silly.

Sparks-Brother sat down in front of one of the doors into The Loop, and Smaug hopped back into his lap.  _ “Are you okay?”  _ The dragonlet asked, licking Sparks-Brother’s face.  _ “Are you hurt? Who should I fight?” _

Smaug heard footsteps coming up behind them and tensed only to relax again when he smelled Steel-Friend. He paused a few feet away. “You okay?”

Sparks-Brother stroked the top of Smaug’s head. “Do you think my dad is still alive?”

“Yes, yes, he is. Of course. Jesse only took your pop to use as leverage. He might be crazy, but he’s not stupid,” Steel-Friend replied. “And everyone upstairs is looking to find him.”

Sparks-Brother swallowed. Smaug purred and nuzzled his neck affectionately. “So… Now I’m just supposed to leave my dad’s fate in the hands of a man who may have had something to do with my mom’s murder?” He laughed bitterly. “Joe, I can’t do this.”

Smaug stilled. He didn’t know which human they were talking about (Trick-Enemy or Brightcolors-Enemy?), but he knew what ‘murder’ meant. It meant killing, not for food or for survival. Just… Killing. And it was bad.

“Yes, you can,” Steel-Friend encouraged him. He sat down beside Sparks-Brother.

“This doesn’t make any sense. I mean, if Wells is a murderer, why does he wanna help me? Why has he helped me stop so many criminals, or saved Ronnie?” Sparks-Brother paused, and Smaug chirped to let him know that he wasn’t alone. “Why didn’t I see this?”

“I spent a  _ tenth  _ as much time with him as you did,” Steel-Friend said. “He almost had me believing in him.”

“Almost,” Sparks-Brother whispered. Smaug licked his face and tasted salty tears.

“Look,” Steel-Friend sighed. “Whatever else he is, he is Harrison Wells. You  _ love  _ science, he  _ is  _ science. It’s like you made best friends with Einstein.”

“You’re saying I wanted to be tricked,” Sparks-Brother said softly.

_ “You  _ always wanna be the person who sees the best in people,” Steel-Friend said. Smaug hiccuped and licked Sparks-Brother’s face again. “I’ve been a cop for twenty-five years. All I can see is the flaws, the lies, the dark thoughts that people think I don’t see. I  _ wish  _ I could be you. As fast as you are,  _ that _ is your real power. Don’t let Wells take that from you. I don’t know  _ why  _ he’s helping us. All that matters is that he is.”

Sparks-Brother’s head dropped down, and something wet hit Smaug’s red scales. “I can’t lose my dad, Joe.”

Slowly, with encouragement from both Smaug and Steel-Friend, Sparks-Brother got to his feet. As soon as he was standing, Smaug nudged his ankle.  _ “I’ll keep you safe, Sparks-Brother,”  _ Smaug purred.  _ “The others are taking care of Fire-Father, so it’s okay if I make sure that you’re okay.” _

* * *

“Anything?” Sparks-Brother asked, leaning over Fire-Father’s shoulder.

“I’m scanning all of the traffic cams in the city, but I got nothing,” Fire-Father sighed. Griffin squawked softly from her place on his shoulder.

There was a small sound, and then Steel-Friend spoke up. “Hey, baby.” There was a pause, and Sparks-Brother glanced over at him. “Iris?”

By the time that Steel-Friend clicked speaker and a voice began to ring through the Star Lair, every human and dragon was looking at him.

“How many of you feel the trimethylene-32 coursing through your veins?” A eerie voice said, and Smaug’s hackles raised. He snarled at the phone in Steel-Friend’s hand. Even though he knew that whoever was talking was too far away for him to fight, there was something about that voice that set him on edge.

“That’s him,” Sparks-Brother said, and Smaug looked at him with a small  _ hrrr  _ of curiosity. “That’s Jesse.”

“Cisco, can you ping her phone?” Steel-Friend asked Fire-Father, who nodded. Griffin leaned into his cheek comfortingly as he spoke.

“I’m on it,” Fire-Father replied, fingers dancing over the keyboard. Griffin hummed encouragingly in his ear.

“Trimethylene-32 is a relatively fast-acting poison,” Snow-Sister warned, and Smaug’s entire body stiffened. He knew what poison meant-had someone eaten something that they weren’t supposed to? Had Brightcolors-Enemy  _ forced  _ them to eat it? Smaug shuddered in revulsion.

“Is there a cure?” Sparks-Brother asked anxiously.

“Yes, we can start synthesizing the antidote right now,” Dark-Friend answered, moving away from the table. Vermithrax followed him, ever suspicious of the human man. Snow-Sister stood up as well, bringing Saphira with her. Good, that meant that Snow-Sister wouldn’t be alone. Saphira was good company, according to the woman herself.

“Cisco,” Steel-Friend said, “where is she?”

A long pause, and then Fire-Father answered. “City Hall.”

“The mayor’s having a fundraiser tonight,” Steel-Friend realized. Mushu, who was still beside him, shook his head and hissed softly to himself. All of the dragonlets had disgust for humans who tried to hurt other humans, even if they didn’t succeed. Some of them, like Vermithrax, would have preferred to punish them in more physical ways, while the others were satisfied with simply allowing Steel-Friend to take them.

“Barry,” Dark-Friend began, “do not underestimate the Trickster-”

Before he was even done speaking, Sparks-Brother was gone in a crackle of yellow lightning.

* * *

Smaug sniffed the new person hesitantly. He smelled safe, like the Home Lair did, although with more of an oak tree scent mixed in. The dragonlet decided right then and there that he wasn’t a threat, and that he was just as much a friend as Steel-Friend was.

_ “Hello, Oak-Friend,”  _ Smaug greeted softly.  _ “I’m Smaug. I’ve been taking care of your hatchling. Or at least  _ trying  _ to. Sometimes Sparks-Brother runs off without thinking. But he’s usually okay.” _

“What’s this one’s name?” Oak-Friend asked Fire-Father.

“Smaug,” he replied. “The blue one is Saphira, this little girl right here is Griffin, the grey one who hates everything is Vermithrax, and the green guy over there by Joe is Mushu.”

Vermithrax himself growled.  _ “How do we know that this person will not attempt to hurt Fire-Father or one of the others? You are too trusting, Smaug-Brother.” _

Smaug huffed at his brother.  _ “Just because I trust Oak-Friend doesn’t mean I trust too easily.” _

Vermithrax puffed up, wings fanning open as he asked for a fight with his body language. Smaug, under almost any other circumstance, would have readily agreed in a heartbeat. But there was a new human at the Star Lair, and he didn’t want to accidently nick him with his claws (something that had happened to Sparks-Brother, Snow-Sister, and Steel-Friend).

_ “Later,”  _ Smaug promised his brother.  _ “We’ll settle this later.” _

He could hear Oak-Friend laughing at them.

* * *

“What do you mean, your friend has weird pets?” Eddie asked.

Barry shrugged. “Ah, it’s kinda hard to explain.”

When Eddie’s eyes finally alighted on the dragonlets (and Cisco, who had the ever-present Griffin on his shoulder, even if she  _ was  _ getting a little bit big for it), Eddie took a deep breath. “Give me a second.”

He turned and walked out into the hallway before banging his head against the wall several times and muttering “why” under his breath with each collision. Then, after roughly five minutes, he turned around and walked back into the room. “So, dragons exist. Can I have one?”

Cisco shook his head. “Nope, they’re my babies. But if they end up adopting you, there’s no going back.


	6. All Star Team Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied this chapter isn't very long either.
> 
> Also, don't get used to Ray being happy. It won't last. At least not for very long.

Mushu’s back arched and he curled up his lip. He didn’t understand how bees could be dangerous. Yes, he’d seen one of Cisco’s neighbors get stung by one, but it seemed like they would only hurt a human. They certainly weren’t large enough to kill one. Maybe they were only that small so they could trick the humans into thinking that they were harmless?

“Bees,” Fire-Father muttered from behind him, scratching Saphira behind her ears. “Why did it have to be bees? Y’all, I don’t do bees, ain’t nobody got time for bees.”

“When a honeybee stings, their stingers are torn from their abdomen and they die,” Dark-Friend mused.

“But there were no stingers in the body. And no dead bees in the car,” Sparks-Brother said with a frown. Smaug’s tail twitched as he glanced at Mushu. The red dragon had told his brothers and sisters that Steel-Friend and Sparks-Brother were both suspicious of Dark-Friend. Vermithrax had been pleased to hear that he wasn’t the only one who had questions about Dark-Friend’s motives.

“A honeybee can only deposit 0.1 milligrams of apitoxin when it releases its stinger,” Snow-Sister spoke up, brow knitted.

“And yet Ms. Kang was found with enough venom in her system to kill a herd of elephants,” Dark-Friend finished. Vermithrax had to hold back the urge to bite him.. “It appears not only is this metahuman controlling these bees, but also increasing their toxicity.”

“Bees communicate by releasing pheromones. Maybe this meta is controlling them through secretion?” Sparks-Brother suggested. 

Fire-Father shuddered and wrinkled his nose as Griffin did the same. “Anyone wanna join me in getting a beekeeper suit?”

All of the dragonlets raised their heads as a new scent entered their nostrils, just as Sparks-Brother spoke. “I’m pretty sure I can outrun a bee.”

“Well, just don’t run into a lake,” a new voice spoke up, making all of the humans turn to see what the five dragonlets had already smelled. “The bees will  _ wait  _ for you to come up for air and  _ then  _ they’ll sting you. Discovery Channel. Turns out, there’s a  _ lot  _ to discover. And who are those little cuties?” She beamed at the dragons. “Oh my gosh, Barry, you didn’t say  _ anything _ about dragons. That’s not the kind of thing that you just  _ forget _ to mention, you know.”

“Felicity,” Sparks-Brother greeted uncertainly. “What are you doing here?”

“Can you guys come outside for a sec? And bring those little guys. I wanna learn all about them,” ‘Felicity’ added. Humph, humans. How about… Mushu though for a second. Honey-Friend? Because her hair was the color of honey? (Also because he had been thinking about bees, but that was only natural.)

The humans and dragons followed her out of the Star Lair, Fire-Father eagerly introducing Honey-Friend to his five dragon babies. She cooed over them as the group stood outside, looking around for whatever the human woman wanted them to see.

“What exactly are we waiting for, Ms. Smoak?” Dark-Friend asked.

“Up there,” Honey-Friend said by way of an explanation, pointing to a dot up in the sky. She got to her feet from where she was kneeling in front of Mushu and stroking his spines.

“Is… That a bird?” Snow-Sister asked unsurely.

“It’s a plane,” Fire-Father corrected. Smaug flattened himself to the pavement and hissed up at the sky. Humans were not supposed to be able to fly! They didn’t have wings, they didn’t have tails, they shouldn’t have been able to fly!

As the human alighted on the ground, Honey-Friend smiled. “It’s… My boyfriend.”

The person, who appeared to be wearing armor of some kind, pulled their face off. No, wait, it was just a helmet. They waved.

“Hi,” the human said happily. “I’m Ray.”

* * *

Nowings-Friend was talking to Snow-Sister while Honey-Friend spoke with Sparks-Brother. Fire-Father marvelled over the armor-suit that Nowings-Friend has been using to fly (foolish humans) with Griffin perched on top of the armor’s chest. It felt tough and strange, not at all easy to dig her claws into.

“You’re lucky you didn’t break your neck,” Snow-Sister said disapprovingly as she and Nowings-Friend walked across to where Fire-Father was. She narrowed her eyes at Nowings-Friend and crossed her arms. “What is it with billionaires being superheroes?”

“So, uh, have you picked a name yet?” Fire-Father asked. Griffin jumped off of the armor and landed on his shoulder. He stroked her wings as Nowings-Friend watched the interaction with something approaching awe.

“Ah, I’m kinda partial to ‘the Atom’,” Nowings-Friend made a small noise with his mouth and gestured with his hand. His gaze never left Griffin, but it didn’t feel hostile. Just excited and happy and curious all at once.

“You married to that, or…?” Fire-Father asked as he shook his head, frowning slightly. Griffin purred.

_ “How can the human fly if he doesn’t have wings?”  _ Smaug asked, tilting his head to one side in confusion.

_ “It’s a different kind of flying,”  _ Griffin chittered down to him.  _ “Not like what we’ll be able to do one day. It’s harder for him to stay in the air, too. And he doesn’t use the wind currents like he should.” _

_ “How do you know that?”  _ Mushu asked his caramel colored ‘younger’ sister. He kneaded the floor with his paws.

_ “Fire-Father talks to himself while he works.” _

_ “Ah.”  _ Mushu knew that from experience.

* * *

Nowings-Friend patted Griffin on the head as the golden dragon watched him and Fire-Father work on the armor thing. He smiled at her and scratched underneath her chin. “Cisco, your dragons are so cool. Seriously.”

“I know, they’re pretty great.” He smiled at Griffin before looking back at Nowings-Friend and turning to study the human’s strange armor. “So you put solid oxide fuel cells into the belt?”

“Yeah, that was the only place to hide the hardware,” Nowings-Friend replied. He stood up and stepped away from Griffin to join Fire-Father beside the armor.

“Hmm,” Fire-Father hummed. “Well, they should be generating enough energy to power the suit. It could be the operating temperature, I mean you’re essentially-”

“Overheating the system. Yeah, I figured,” Nowings-Friend finished with a sigh.

“But,” Fire-Father realized with a smile, making Griffin purr from her place on the ground before scrambling up onto his shoulder (to Nowings-Friend’s obvious delight), “if we insulate them with a ceramic compound…”

“We may improve the operating efficiency.” Nowings-Friend smiled at Fire-Father. “You really are quite clever, Cisco.”

Underneath Griffin’s claws, Fire-Father suddenly tensed. His heart rate sped up and his eyes stared blankly off into space. Griffin chirped nervously and nudged his cheek with her muzzle.  _ “Fire-Father? Fire-Father, are you okay? Are you hurt? Answer me!” _

“How do you turn this thing on?” Nowings-Friend asked, and Griffin hissed at him. Couldn’t he see that Fire-Father was in trouble somehow? When there was no answer, Nowings-Friend turned around. “Cisco? You okay?”

Fire-Father snapped out of it, much to Griffins’s relief. “Yeah. I haven’t been getting enough sleep, so…”

Griffin knew that he was telling the truth. Fire-Father had been having nightmares more and more lately. She and her siblings did everything in their power to comfort him, but sometimes it seemed like it just wasn’t enough. No matter what they did, Fire-Father’s mind was the one place that they couldn’t protect him. His dreams were the one place that they couldn’t follow.

That was when Snow-Sister spoke over the speakers.

* * *

Smaug curled around Sparks-Brother protectively, licking every available inch of his face. He wasn’t entirely sure what had happened the latest time that the human man had put on the red suit, but he was sure that it wasn’t good. Smaug could tell that there had been a very high possibility that Sparks-Brother might not have ever come back again. But he was okay now, and that was all that mattered to the scarlet scaled dragonlet.

“Cisco, what happened out there?” Sparks-Brother asked Fire-Father. Smaug purred and licked his cheek. “I followed your directions exactly.”

“I’m sorry,” Fire-Father apologized. “I led you the wrong way. The schematics we had, they, um, they weren’t up to date.”

“They weren’t up to date?” Sparks-Brother asked with a frown. “What do you mean? That’s never happened before.”

“What, you think Cisco was trying to get you killed?” Honey-Friend teased gently. Sparks-Brother looked at her with wide eyes, and Smaug felt his heartbeat speed up even faster than it was before.

“No,” he said hastily. “Wh-why would he do that? Th-that doesn’t make any sense.”

Honey-Friend frowned slightly and leaned away, looking at Sparks-Brother with confusion. “I know, that’s why I was joking.”

“Barry,” Dark-Friend said, trying to diffuse the situation and only succeeding in putting the dragonlets even more on edge than they already were. “It’s our job to protect you, and today we failed. But that will just serve as a warning for all of us to be more vigilant in the future.”

_ “Something’s wrong,”  _ Mushu warned his siblings.  _ “Why did Sparks-Brother suspect Fire-Father of trying to hurt him?” _

_ “Sparks-Brother is just tired,” _ Smaug dismissed.  _ “He’ll be okay.” _

Smaug was startled from Sparks-Brother’s lap and onto the floor when the speedster vanished in a blur of motion and a crackle of lightning. He squawked in surprise and landed on his feet, shaking his head free of momentary dizziness. Mushu huffed at him, curling his lip up.  _ “You were saying, Smaug-Brother?” _

When Sparks-Brother, Honey-Friend, and Nowings-Friend were gone, Snow-Sister and Fire-Father glanced at each other. Fire-Father narrowed his eyes. “That was weird.”

“Yeah,” Snow-Sister agreed. “Why didn’t we get invited to dinner?”

Fire-Father rolled his eyes. “No, I meant Barry. I mean, he doesn’t  _ really  _ think that I would try to kill him, right?” He paused. “Does he?”

Snow-Sister set her hand on his shoulder. “Of course not, Cisco. He doesn’t blame you. It’s probably pretty traumatic to literally  _ die. _ He’s probably just a little shaken, you know.”

Fire-Father nodded, although he didn’t smell convinced. “I guess.”

Griffin’s head raised as she faintly heard a buzzing sound. Her ears flicked and she looked around before resting her head back down into its normal position. It was probably nothing. She had been thinking about bees for too long anyways.

* * *

_ “I think that something is really wrong with Sparks-Brother,”  _ Smaug mewed anxiously. He wrapped his tail around his paws for a moment before springing to his feet and starting to pace back and forth in front of his four siblings.  _ “Something really upset him, and I think it might have to do with Dark-Friend. Why would he think that Fire-Father would try to hurt him if he wasn’t already suspicious of one of his friends?” _

_ “You worry too much sometimes, Smaug-Brother,”  _ Mushu replied.  _ “He’s just nervous from what happened while he was wearing the red." _

_ “Something  _ is  _ wrong, I know it,”  _ Smaug insisted, fire-engine red tail starting to lash.  _ “I’m worried about him! Steel-Friend already suspects Dark-Friend, and…”  _ He paused as he remembered what had happened when Brightcolors-Enemy and Trick-Enemy had gone after Oak-Friend.  _ “And Sparks-Brother suspects him too. When Oak-Enemy got taken by Trick-Enemy and Brightcolors-Enemy, and Sparks-Brother ran off for a while and I followed him, Steel-Friend and Sparks-Brother wondered why Dark-Friend was helping them. I thought that it was just because Sparks-Brother didn’t listen to him about the ‘bomb’ thing. But he said something about murder.” _

_ “Trick-Enemy and Brightcolors-Enemy were both murderers,”  _ Saphira said.  _ “They were probably talking about them.” _

_ “No, Saphira-Sister, that’s what I thought too! But it’s not!”  _ Smaug yowled in frustration, raking the floor with his talons in desperation.  _ “Dark-Friend is one of the bad humans!” _

Griffin stiffened. She could almost remember something, something important. It was right there at the front of her brain, but… The dragonlet just couldn’t quite remember what it was. Sighing, Griffin rose to her paws.  _ “Well, if Dark-Friend really  _ is  _ a bad human, we have to warn Fire-Father and Snow-Sister. Honey-Friend and Nowings-Friend too, if they almost get hurt. They seem like good humans, even if Nowings-Friend sometimes can’t see what’s right in front of his nose.” _

Vermithrax’s tail twitched and he growled.  _ “Snow-Sister and Fire-Father are alone with Dark-Friend right now. What if he does something to them?” _

Smaug was already running, speed only increasing when he heard a screech of surprise coming from the room where Snow-Sister and Fire-Father had been waiting for Sparks-Brother, Honey-Friend, and Nowings-Friend to come back from wherever they were. What if something had already happened? He doubted that Dark-Friend (maybe he should have been Dark-Enemy now?) would do anything quite yet, at least not with Honey-Friend and Nowings-Friend visiting, but now that Sparks-Father had left maybe he would take the opportunity.

It was with some relief that he skidded to a halt in the room to see that while Fire-Father had been the one to scream, he was alive and unharmed. Snow-Sister was fine too, as was Dark-Friend (enemy?). That was when Smaug’s sensitive ears detected the sound of humming wings, and he let out a small yelp of his own as he ducked the bee that suicide-bombed down towards his horns.

Saphira, who was right on his heels, tried to breath fire at it (something that she had refused to stop doing ever since she had learned), but the bee was too nimble. Snow-Sister yelped and tried not to swat at it as it buzzed towards her. “One of you two call Barry!”

After a few more minutes of trying (and failing) to kill the bee, Fire-Father managed to call Sparks-Brother and warn him of what was going on. Vermithrax was more focused on Dark-Friend than on the bee, however. He was watching the proceedings almost calmly, as if he didn’t care about the outcome. The dragon bared his small sharp teeth. Vermithrax had been wary of the human before, but now that he knew his suspicions were shared by Steel-Friend and Sparks-Brother, he was twice as apprehensive.

That was when he heard the bee buzzing towards Dark-Friend, and watched at the man’s leg shifted outwards, as if he were ready to jump from the wheelchair at a moment’s notice. Vermithrax snarled and crouched down to jump and attack them both, but before he could there was a crackle of yellowish orange lightning and Sparks-Brother caught the bee moments before it could sting Dark-Friend. Vermithrax grumbled and relaxed backwards out of the attack position.

“Thank you,” Dark-Friend said, as if he hadn’t been heartbeats away from death by either killer bee or angry dragonlet.

Sparks-Brother nodded and handed the container holding the bee out to Fire-Father, who took it with a shudder. “Let’s find out what makes this bee so poisonous. Ugh.”

Snow-Sister ran after him, followed by Saphira, Griffin, Mushu, and Smaug, who momentarily coiled around Sparks-Brother’s legs before following them. Vermithrax, however, stayed in the room. He wanted to keep an eye on Dark-Friend.

“You saved my life,” Dark-Friend murmured. Sparks-Brother nodded again and slipped around him, walking into the room where Snow-Sister and Fire-Father were already studying the bee underneath a microscope. Vermithrax shook himself and followed after the human man, casting one last suspicious glance over his shoulder at Dark-Friend.

He knew that something was up. He just had to figure out what it was.

* * *

“Unbelievable,” Fire-Father said gleefully. Griffin squirmed in his lap and struggled to see the screen that he was looking at. “This bot’s got a 360-degree vision system, I mean we’re talking multiple microcameras all coming from various angles at the same time. Which means…”

“It can see all around the room at once,” Nowings-Friend finished. He smiled widely. “That is-”

“Amazing,” he and Fire-Father both said at the exact same time.

Snow-Sister frowned at them as Saphira tilted her blue scaly head to one side. “Disturbing.”

“It’s also next-gen hardware that’s nowhere  _ near _ the market,” Dark-Friend pointed out.

“So we’re  _ not  _ dealing with a metahuman,” Honey-Friend realized. She crouched down and stroked Mushu.

“It’s just a mad scientist,” Sparks-Father confirmed. He sounded accusing again, and Smaug bumped his head softly against the speedster’s legs. Vermithrax hissed at Dark-Friend, although luckily it was soft enough that nobody heard it, although even if they had they wouldn’t have thought that it was anything out of the ordinary. Vermithrax was always upset about something, after all.

“Cisco, you said the second victim, Bill Carlisle, was a robotics robotics engineer?” Dark-Friend asked. “Let’s cross-reference his previous employers with those of Lindsey Kang.”

“Allow me,” Honey-Friend interrupted, abandoning Mushu with a small sound of apology and sliding into one of the empty seats. “Mama’s been away from the keyboard for  _ far _ too long.”

“Okay,” Fire-Father chuckled, stroking the back of Griffin’s head affectionately. After a few moments of silence, they had their common factor.

“They both worked at Mercury Labs,” Sparks-Brother said as he looked at the screen.

“Let’s call Joe,” Dark-Friend decided. Vermithrax wondered if they should officially change his status over to ‘enemy.’ “I think it’s time we paid a visit to an old friend.”

Griffin hopped neatly out of Fire-Father’s lap and padded over to the corner, where the rest of her siblings gathered around her.  _ “Who do you think they’re talking about?” _

Smaug shrugged.  _ “Don’t know,”  _ he chirped.  _ “But hopefully they don’t like Dark-Friend either.” _

_ “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something else,” _ Griffin meowed.  _ “Fire-Father has been having nightmares more and more lately.” _

_ “We know,”  _ Vermithrax said, flicking his tail irritably.  _ “We sleep with him too.” _

_ “Not just at night, though,”  _ Griffin hrred urgently.  _ “He got one during the day this time. I forgot about it until just now. It was when he and Nowings-Friend were working. I-I think that there might be something else going on, even worse than we all thought.” _

* * *

The dragonlets curled up at Fire-Father’s feet as he and Snow-Sister drove back towards the Star Lair with Nowings-Friend. They had been worried when he had climbed into the back and then almost been crushed by Nowings-Friend (humans weren’t meant to fly for exactly this reason) while landing, but everything was fine now. The bees were hopefully gone too, so they would be safe back at the Star Lair.

As they clambered out, Nowings-Friend smiled at Snow-Sister and Fire-Father. “Some kind of team you have here. And with  _ very _ cool pets.”

“It helps to have friends in your corner,” Snow-Sister agreed with a smile in his direction. “That was like…”

“This guy’s a stunt driver, I swear!" Nowings-Friend said happily as the five dragonlets trotted along beside him. Griffin paused and turned around to look for Fire-Father-only to see him clasp his neck and let out a small gasp.

Nowings-Friend looked at him in concern. “Are you okay?”

That was when Fire-Father collapsed in a heap onto the ground, and all five of the dragons shrieked in unison.

“Cisco!” Snow-Sister cried, kneeling down beside him and starting to push on his chest. “Come on, please!” Griffin tried to lunge forwards, but Nowings-Friend gently grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and pulled her back. “Wake up!”

“No, she’s helping, Caitlin knows what she’s doing.” Nowings-Friend held the dragonlet back carefully.

Vermithrax snarled at him for touching his sister and nipped Nowings-Friend’s hand until he dropped the dragonlet with a small sound of pain and indignation.

Nowings-Friend darted around them and grabbed something from the back of the truck. “Cisco’s been stung, he’s going into shock!”   


“Come on,” Snow-Sister begged desperately as the dragons huddled around her in a panic. “Stay with me.”

Sparks-Brother appeared from nowhere, skidding to a halt beside the small trio of humans and cluster of young dragons. “Hold on, back up,” he said, sounding horrified behind the mask. Snow-Sister obeyed immediately, coaxing the dragonlets to do the the same. “I’m gonna try something.”

He bent down over Fire-Father and ripped open the human’s shirt before rubbing his hands together and vibrating them until they hummed and crackled with visible strands of golden electricity. Then he carefully set them down on Fire-Father’s chest, allowing the charge to course through his body. Fire-Father jumped, and for a moment the dragonlets surged forwards. But nothing more happened, and Sparks-Brother set his hands down once again on Fire-Father’s bare chest. He jumped again, and Sparks-Brother spoke up hopefully.

“Cisco?”

Fire-Father’s eyes flew open and he gasped, choking on air as the dragonlets surged forwards, covering his face and chest in licks and scaly bodies.

* * *

Griffin stood in front of the box that held Smoke-Friend, who was leaning back against the wall of said box. Her arms were wrapped around her knees and her dark eyes were staring off into space. Griffin chirruped a few times and the woman’s head snapped around to look in her direction before she sighed. “Oh, it’s just one of you. I can’t see you, you know.”

The small golden dragon purred and tilted her head to one side. Of course Smoke-Friend couldn’t see her-she couldn’t see anything outside of her cell. But that wasn’t why she wanted to talk to the human woman. In fact, she didn’t really want to at all. Fire-Father was the one who wanted to, in fact.

“Hey, ah, Shawna,” he began, using Smoke-Friend’s human name. “We-me, the Flash, and some other people, the ones that have been bringing you food-have an offer for you.” Fire-Father reached out and pressed a button, and then suddenly Smoke-Friend’s hands were pressed right up against the glass.

“Why did you do that?” She asked in shocked amazement. “Don’t you know that I could escape whenever I wanted?” Then her eyes landed on Griffin and widened as she stumbled backwards. “What the hell is that?!”

Sparks-Brother stepped forwards. He was wearing the red again, and his voice was doing the bad thing where it hummed and twisted and didn’t sound like him at all. “Shawna,” Sparks-Brother started, “we know that you aren’t a bad person. So we’re going to let you go free.”

Smoke-Friend stared at him for a moment before her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms. Smoke-Friend scowled. “What’s the catch?”

“No real catch,” Sparks-Brother replied. “Nothing that you can’t do easily. No using your powers for evil, although you don’t have to become a hero if you don’t want to, and no reaching back out to Clay. He doesn’t care about you, Shawna. It was a toxic relationship.”

Smoke-Friend scowled. “You guys locked me in a box surrounded by nothing but my own reflection day after day after day, and you expect me to follow your rules?”

“They aren’t that difficult, Shawna,” Fire-Father pointed out. “Your powers aren’t inherently dangerous, and you know how to use them.”

Smoke-Friend’s shoulders slumped. “If it’s the only way to get out of this stupid, probably very illegal prison, then I’ll do it. But first you have to tell me what  _ that  _ is”-she gestured to Griffin-“and if it’s possible for me to get one.”


	7. Who is Harrison Wells?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why are all of these chapters so long in my document and then so short when I copy-paste them? Whyyy?
> 
> I'm not particularly satisfied with the ending of this chapter, but I tried reworking it a million times and this was the only way that it actually sort of worked. So. Here you guys go.

Vermithrax leaned against Fire-Father’s legs as he took in his surroundings. He knew that Steel-Father hadn’t wanted to bring him (something about an iris and a secret), but Fire-Father and Sparks-Brother had managed to convince him otherwise. This place smelled like Sparks-Brother and Steel-Friend and someone else, a cool soothing scent that had a hint of sharpness underneath it like fire in a rainstorm. He liked it already and the person that it must have belonged to already.

‘Eddie,’ who still didn’t have a  _ proper _ dragon name, frowned as he sat down and looked around before stiffening as Mushu hopped up into his lap. “Where’s Barry?”

“He should be here any second,” Steel-Friend answered. He scratched Smaug behind the ears absently as the red dragon waited for Sparks-Brother’s return. “I sent him out for-”

There was a crackle of lightning, and then Sparks-Brother was beaming at them happily, carrying a couple of boxes that smelled wonderful. “Pizza!”

“What?” Fire-Father sang happily as he made his way around the couch, Vermithrax, Griffin, and Saphira in tow. Smaug hopped onto Sparks-Brother’s foot and nuzzled his pant leg. Saphira broke away from the group to hop into Snow-Sister’s lap and bump her chin with the top of her blue horned head. 

“From… Coast City?” ‘Eddie’ said disbelievingly.

“Supposedly the best in the west,” Sparks-Brother replied as he sat down, allowing Smaug to jump up onto his legs.

“Why didn’t I think of this before?” Fire-Father asked in amazement as he sat down beside ‘Eddie’ and opened the top of the pizza box. “Come to papa!”

“Caitlin?” Steel-Friend asked. Snow-Sister glanced up from where she was sitting on the stairs absentmindedly playing with Saphira’s wings as the small blue dragon nudged her playfully. Steel-Friend pointed to the pizza, which Smaug and Griffin leaned towards eagerly only to be pulled away. Mushu huffed at them and ‘Eddie’ jumped nervously.

“I’m not hungry,” Snow-Sister said as she shook her head. Saphira purred to her softly as Steel-Friend nodded and looked around at the rest of the assembled people before he began speaking and finally broached the topic that all of the dragonlets (especially Vermithrax, who sat up straighter where he sat beside Fire-Father) had been wondering about.

“Okay,” Steel-Friend began. Snow-Sister sat up and walked to stand behind the couch, Saphira following her loyally. “Six months of investigating Harrison Wells has led us nowhere. So we’re going back to the beginning to see what we can find out.”

“What does that mean?” ‘Eddie’ (they really needed to find him a proper name) asked. Mushu  _ hrred _ and tilted his head to one side, twin wisps of smoke rising from his nostrils.

“Road trip, baby,” Fire-Father answered happily. He bumped bad-smelling bottles with Steel-Friend.

“Joe and Cisco are gonna go to Starling City,” Sparks-Brother explained.

“Starling City?” Snow-Sister’s eyes widened. “What for?”

“To investigate the car accident Dr. Wells was in with Tess Morgan fifteen years ago,” Steel-Friend replied.

“I don’t understand. Why?” Snow-Sister looked at Steel-Friend, and Saphira wound around her ankles like a comforting scaly blue cat. The dragonlet hummed quietly, sending vibrations up the woman’s leg.

“Dr. McGee said that after Wells’s accident he became, like, a complete stranger,” Sparks-Brother answered. Smaug whistled and nipped at his fingers. “Just a different person entirely.”

“Because the love of his life died?” Snow-Sister arched an eyebrow at Sparks-Brother. Saphira paused in her comforting for a moment before she continued, hoping that Snow-Sister would believe her friends. “You, of  _ all  _ people, can understand how grief can change a person.”

“Caitlin,” Steel-Friend said gently. “We believe that Dr. Wells is the Reverse-Flash and killed Barry’s mother. He may have done the same thing to Tess Morgan. We have to learn everything we can about that night. See where it leads us.”

“Oh, um, can you cover for me?” Fire-Father piped up, looking at Snow-Sister. Griffin chirruped in confusion. “With Dr. Wells?”

Snow-Sister looked at him and bit her lip. “You mean lie?”

Smaug smelled the sudden nervousness and apprehension that started to come off of Sparks-Brother. There was a long awkward pause.

“…Yeah?” Fire-Father said with a small frown. He sounded baffled.

Snow-Sister shook her head. “I need some air.”

“Caitlin.” Sparks-Brother got up to follow her, but Smaug pulled him back down into his seat. The woman walked over to the door and left, Saphira following behind her with an apologetic mew.

_ “Calm down, Sparks-Brother,”  _ Smaug said.  _ “Saphira will take care of Snow-Sister, don’t worry. We don’t like Dark-Friend either, and Saphira will help Snow-Sister see that. Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.” _

Snow-Sister sat down on the steps outside. Saphira sprang up into her lap and licked her face as the human woman slowly stroked her sapphire scales. “Do  _ you  _ think that this is the right decision? Do  _ you  _ trust Dr. Wells?”

_ “No,”  _ Saphira said sincerely.  _ “I think that he’s a bad human, and that you should too. I think that he’s done not-good things, Snow-Sister.” _

Snow-Sister looked down at her sadly. “Sometimes I wonder if you guys can even actually understand us.” She sighed. “You do a pretty good job of pretending if you can’t.”

_ “We understand you,”  _ Saphira assured her.  _ “Promise.” _

“I’m scared,” Snow-Sister admitted. “I-I don’t think that Dr. Wells is the man in yellow, but I’m also scared that he actually is.” She sighed. “I just don’t know what to think. I trust Cisco and Barry and Joe with my life, especially Cisco, but… Humans make mistakes. I hope that one of mine wasn’t sticking by Wells after the particle accelerator exploded.”

Saphira licked her face and inhaled the woman’s clean cold scent deeply.  _ “People are soft and easy to break, and they’re wrong a lot. But that’s okay. The times when they’re  _ right _ are the times that matter.” _

* * *

“Look, babies, you guys have to stay behind. Joe will only let me bring two of you,” Cisco explained to Saphira, Smaug, and Mushu. “I’m really, really sorry.”

The remaining three bobbed their heads, and he wondered (not for the first time and certainly not for the last) if they truly understood him.

“Okay. So, you guys have to keep an eye on Caitlin and make sure that she’s safe. And make sure that Barry doesn’t do anything stupid while charging headfirst into danger until I come back, got it? Oh, and  _ definitely  _ watch Dr. Wells. If he does anything shady, anything at all, let me know the second that I get back, alright?” The trio chirped in unison, and Cisco beamed at them. “You guys are the best, you know that?”

Mushu purred and flicked his tail, lightly tapping Saphira. Cisco didn’t know it, but they knew far more than they would ever be able to let on to him. At least, not for a while.

* * *

“Good morning,” Sparks-Brother greeted politely. Saphira could smell her nervousness.

Snow-Sister sighed. “Hey.”

“Hey, look, uh, can we talk about last night?” Sparks-Brother asked cautiously.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Snow-Sister denied, getting to her feet and sending Saphira spilling down to the floor. The dragon mewled in protest, and Snow-Sister blinked at her and winced. “Sorry, Saphira. I didn’t mean to-Barry, there is _ nothing  _ to talk about.”

“There is, actually,” Sparks-Brother replied, following her as she tried to walk away from him. “Cait-Caitlin, look. I  _ know _ that after everything Dr. Wells has done for  _ all  _ of us it’s hard to wrap your head around this, but I  _ need _ you to see the truth.”

“The truth?” Snow-Sister hissed, spinning around. Saphira watched Sparks-Brother quail away. “The  _ truth  _ is that he saved your life  _ multiple _ times.”

Saphira flattened her body to the floor and hissed softly up at Snow-Sister, tail flicking slowly from side to side. Over across the room, Mushu shook his head at her.  _ “No, Saphira-Sister,”  _ he said firmly.  _ “Snow-Sister must see the truth without your help.” _

_ “No need to act so mighty,”  _ Saphira huffed at him.  _ “Why can’t I help her? She clearly needs it to understand!” _

_ “The humans have to solve problems on their own. They break too easily for us to constantly have to protect them.”  _ Mushu flattened his ears to his green-scaled skull.  _ “They have to know what to do without us.” _

_ “In case you’ve forgotten, they did just fine without us before Fire-Father found us,”  _ Saphira retorted. Mushu was getting on every single one of her nerves, and the normally docile dragonlet was irritable and angrier than usual due to being tired. It was hard to sleep without Fire-Father there to be with them, and they had had to sleep at the Star Lair the night before instead of at the Home Lair. At least they had had plenty of room all to themselves.

Mushu’s hackles raised and he moved as if he were going to pounce. There was a flicker of red scales and then Smaug was standing in between them, glaring at them both.  _ “Stop fighting,”  _ he scolded.  _ “We have to behave well for when Fire-Father comes back with Steel-Friend from the Bird City. And we have to keep an eye on Dark-Friend, remember?” _

Saphira glared icily at her green colored brother for a moment before the dragonlet nodded to Smaug.  _ “Fine. I’ll take the first watch and make sure that he doesn’t do anything. But if Snow-Sister needs me for anything, I have to help her, okay?” _

_ “Okay,”  _ Smaug agreed. He nodded to her gently before padding away to stand beside Sparks-Brother. That was when Saphira smelled Dark-Friend and a small growl rose involuntarily in her throat.

* * *

Griffin braced her paws up against the window, watching as the world moved by. There weren’t very many other cars out her, and she could see clouds racing across the sky and the occasional hawk or vulture soaring on lazy wings high above her.  _ “Look, Fire-Father!”  _ The golden dragonlet chirped excitedly.  _ “That’s what I’ll be able to do one day!” _

Fire-Father stroked the top of her head with one hand as he tinkered with something in the other. Vermithrax, who was lying in the backseat pretending to sleep and actually watching everything vigilantly for any sign of danger, momentarily raised his head.  _ “Be quiet, Griffin-Sister. You’ve been marvelling at the clouds all day.”  _ He stretched his paws out in front of him and yawned lazily as his sharp white teeth flashed in the quickly fading sunlight.  _ “I’m sure that Fire-Father and Steel-Friend are tired of it by now.” _

_ “But one day we’ll be able to do that,”  _ Griffin said eagerly.  _ “Soar through the clouds and chase down birds. Maybe we’ll even be able to bring Fire-Father up there with us. I know that humans can’t fly, but we can hold him in our talons and make sure that he doesn’t fall out of the sky and hurt himself.” _

Vermithrax snorted.  _ “You’ll be lucky if you don’t drop him yourself, Griffin-Sister.” _

“What are you two talking about?” Fire-Father asked, craning his neck to look back at Vermithrax. The dragonlet chirped in reply.

_ “Griffin-Sister doesn’t think that she’ll drop you if she ever takes you flying.” _

Steel-Friend glanced at Fire-Father. “Do you really think that they can understand you? Or each other?”

Fire-Father shrugged. “Yeah, man. I mean, Barry said that there are kinds of birds that name their babies and have entire languages just for that specific species. And nobody really knows anything about dragons, not even us, so who knows if they can communicate? But I’m pretty sure that they can. They’ve got all of those different vocalizations, who knows if it’s a language or not?”

_ “It is a language,”  _ Griffin twittered.  _ “But it’s not just talking. It’s also how we move our wings and our tail and our bodies. It’s hard to explain.”  _ She licked Fire-Father’s hand.  _ “You don’t have to understand it.” _

* * *

“A shape-shifter?” Snow-Sister asked in amazement.

“Yeah. I literally saw a grown man, like,  _ morph  _ into a teenage girl.” Sparks-Brother waved his arms around excitedly as he walked around to stand behind Dark-Friend. Smaug chased after him and pounced on his shoes in excitement. “Although I guess it’s not  _ so _ hard to believe considering that Cisco literally adopted five baby dragons.”

“That’s fascinating,” Dark-Friend murmured. “Today’s physicists have always regarded programmable matter as nothing more than a theory, but I guess your shape-shifter proves it can be done.”

“Wait, so he, or she, or them, I don’t know-whatever, this person can actually transform into anyone they touch?” Sparks-Brother clarified.

“Yes, it appears so.” Dark-Friend looked at something on the computer screen in front of him. “That includes you, Mr. Allen.”

“Dr. Wells is right,” Snow-Sister said with a frown. Saphira looked up at her. “If you’re touched while you’re the Flash and he transforms into you, we run the risk of him exposing that Barry Allen is the man behind the mask.”

“Like I said, at this point we don’t know if the shape-shifter is capable of absorbing more than just physical characteristics,” Dark-Friend sighed. Mushu twitched his tail. He was sitting beside Dark-Friend, watching him closely for any sign of ‘shadiness’ like Fire-Father had asked them. The young green dragon wasn’t going to run the risk of letting Dark-Friend hurt any of his friends and family.

“Like, he might be able to copy my speed.” Sparks-Friend rubbed his jaw and crouched down for a second to pet Smaug’s wings.

“That,” Dark-Friend said with a small nod, “would be bad.”

“Got it,” Sparks-Brother nodded. He stood up and Smaug tried to cling to his shirt, making the speedster wince. “Ow, Smaug, your claws are sharp-hands off the metahuman.” He looked at Snow-Sister and Dark-Friend. “I meant that I won’t touch the shapeshifter. I wasn’t just talking to Smaug.”

“Hands off the metahuman,” Dark-Friend agreed.

“So how do we find someone who can transform into anyone?” Snow-Sister asked. She braced her hands against the back of a chair and looked at Sparks-Brother. Saphira tugged on her pant leg and chirped for attention. The blue dragon knew that she was too big and heavy to comfortably perch on the woman’s shoulder anymore (in fact, Griffin was the only one of them who was remotely capable of doing that) but she could still get picked up, right?

“I guess like any problem. Go back to the beginning.” Dark-Friend looked at her. “Okay, so that would mean finding the first person that the shape-shifter morphed into when they discovered their powers.”

“Hey, can you pull up the CCPD records of cases where the perpetrator pled innocent even though they were caught on camera committing the crime?” Sparks-Brother inquired.

Dark-Friend and Snow-Sister smiled at him. “You’re good, Barry Allen,” Dark-Friend said, pleased. “You’re very good.”

While they worked, Mushu gathered his siblings with a twitch of his wings and a jerk of his horns. He looked at his brother and sister.  _ “One of us needs to make sure that we’re watching Dark-Friend whenever we can. I’ll go first.” _

_ “I need to keep an eye on Snow-Sister, too,”  _ Saphira objected.  _ “She still doesn’t quite believe the other humans about what’s happening.” _

_ “And I want to make sure that Sparks-Brother is safe,”  _ Smaug added. He looked up as the human man left.  _ “Although I can help out when he’s gone.” _

_ “Good,”  _ Mushu huffed with a nod to his siblings.  _ “We need to start right away.” _

* * *

Griffin squirmed for a moment before Fire-Father lightly patted her on the head. “Stop squirming, Sweet Bean,” he whispered softly to the golden dragonlet. “Someone will see you, and that is  _ not  _ a conversation that I want to have while we’re here with anybody other than Oliver Queen, Felicity Smoak, or Ray Palmer.”

Griffin squeaked softly. She couldn’t help it-she had no idea where she was, only that it smelled strange and that they had left Vermithrax back at the bedroom where they were supposed to be living. The dragon didn’t know why she was there either. Everything smelled sharp and smoky and strange, with a faint hint of smog and blood that almost made her gag. It was the same scent that had clung faintly to Honey-Friend and Nowings-Friend. Maybe the Bird City was where they lived. Hopefully Griffin would be able to say hi and let the pair know that Fire-Father was okay.

The person that Steel-Friend and Fire-Father had been talking to, whom Griffin decided to call Bitter-Human because of the dark scent that hang off of him, returned carrying something. Probably paper.

“There it is,” Bitter-Human said.

“This is all you have?” Steel-Friend asked him disbelievingly.

“Well, it’s a pretty cut-and-dry case, detective,” Bitter-Human replied. “Harrison Wells and Tess Morgan go out on a Sunday drive, the tires blow, Wells loses control, and, ah, sadly Tess dies on the scene. Couldn’t imagine carrying that kind of guilt around. So, uh, what are you two hoping to find?”

“We’re… Not exactly sure yet,” Steel-Friend admitted.

“Come all the way from Central City and you don’t know what you’re looking for?” Bitter-Human sounded sceptical and surprised. Griffin hissed softly from her hiding place underneath Fire-Father’s jacket.

“Just following a hunch.” Steel-Friend rustled the papers.

“Uh, can you take us to the accident site?” Fire-Father piped up.

Bitter-Human frowned and Griffin ducked her head back into Fire-Father’s jacket. “It’s been fifteen years. I think the pictures would serve you better.”

“Still, we’d appreciate a look,” Steel-Friend agreed with Fire-Father.

There was a long pause before Bitter-Human answered. “Whatever you need.”

“Captain,” a new female voice spoke up after a long pause. “I need those witness statements for the Joshua Brown trial.”

“Um, yeah, well, like I told you,” Bitter-Human replied. “End of the day.”

Griffin felt Fire-Father’s heart speed up a few beats and growled quietly. Had he spotted a threat? She poked her nose out for a split second, but only saw a human woman standing there-not that she couldn’t have been the threat herself. Then the woman made eye contact with the small dragon, and Griffin squeaked before ducking her head back into the safe folds of Fire-Father’s jacket. From there the voices were more muffled, but she understood that the woman wanted to talk with Fire-Father.

And Fire-Father had agreed.

“How do you know Barry?” Griffin heard Fire-Father ask as he walked somewhere, probably following the woman. “Are you guys, like, friends, or something?”

“Not really,” the woman (she needed a name) replied. “We met last time he was in Starling City, visiting my friends.” Griffin heard a door close and her shoulders tensed. She would fight her way out of here if she had to. “John Diggle, Felicity Smoak, and Oliver Queen.”

Fire-Father stiffened underneath Griffin’s claws. “Three people who have absolutely nothing in common, as far as I know.”

The woman sighed. “Cisco,” she said patiently. “I know Barry’s the Flash, and Oliver is the Arrow. And I know that you’re hiding a dragon down your jacket.”

“Pfft,” Fire-Father scoffed. There was a long pause. “How do you know that?”

The woman leaned forwards and dropped her voice down to a whisper. “Well, I saw the dragon when she poked her head out to look at me, and I know about Barry and Oliver because I’m the Black Canary.”

Fire-Father made a small squeaking noise of excitement, and Griffin poked her head out of his jacket once again. 

“Stop playing,” Fire-Father gasped excitedly. The woman, who Griffin decided to call Night-Friend (she was nice and she smelled like the crisp night air), leaned back and nodded happily.

“It’s true.”

“You stop it right now!” Fire-Father beamed, and Griffin hopped out onto the table in front of her. “No.” Fire-Father started laughing. “No!” He grinned even wider than before, and Griffin purred. Anyone who made Fire-Father so happy couldn’t be bad.

“Okay, okay,” Night-Friend said, reaching out to calm the human man. “Calm down.”

“I  _ love  _ you,” Fire-Father gushed. Night-Friend blinked at him in confusion and smiled. Fire-Father blushed and backtracked hurriedly. “I mean, I love they way that you beat up criminals.” Night-Friend laughed. Fire-Father patted the top of Griffin’s head. “This is Griffin, by the way. Unless… You already knew? Did Felicity or Ray tell you?”

“Yeah, I knew that you had dragons. Didn’t really believe it at first, but…” She smiled and reached out a hand for Griffin to sniff, which the dragon happily did. “Actually, I sort of need you to do my a favor. I need a bit of technical expertise.”

Fire-Father nodded. “Sure. What do you need my help with?”

Night-Friend pulled something out that smelled like metal. “I’ve been using my sister’s sonic device,” she explained, “and I was hoping that you could help modify it for me.”

Fire-Father took the device from her and studied it carefully. Griffin could practically hear the gears in his brain whirring. “Yeah,” he said. “I think I already have some ideas.” He smiled at Night-Friend. “But I do require payment for my services.”

* * *

Vermithrax grumbled to himself as he leaned over the back of Fire-Father’s chair. He didn’t like that he had been left behind while Griffin got to go out and meet Night-Friend, although Fire-Father had promised that they would meet soon when he ‘collected his payment.’

Fire-Father had cracked open two cans of cat food, and both of the dragons had cleaned them out. Vermithrax had eaten much faster than his sister and then gone after Griffin’s with the intent to eat hers as well, only to get hissed at and then cuffed on the side of the head with one of the golden dragonlet’s paws.

_ “What are you doing?”  _ Vermithrax asked him. Fire-Father didn’t turn around, instead reaching up over his shoulder to absentmindedly stroke the young dragon’s wings.  _ “Fire-Father, what are you doing?”  _ There was still no answer, and Vermithrax snarled in frustration.  _ “Griffin-Sister! What is Fire-Father doing? Why isn’t he answering me? Even if he doesn’t understand exactly what we’re saying, he should still be able to tell roughly what we want him to know!” _

_ “Wishful thinking,”  _ Griffin muttered, tucking her nose underneath her tail as she curled up in the corner of the room, beside the bed that Fire-Father was going to sleep in.  _ “And be quiet. You know that we had to sneak in and out of here so that nobody will notice us.” _

Her brother lashed his grey scaled tail from side to side.  _ “I’ll be as loud as I want to!” _

Griffin noticed that he was making sure to keep his voice down and purred to herself in amusement.  _ “Hush. Go to sleep. If Fire-Father wants us to know what he’s doing, then he’ll probably tell us in the morning. Or when he goes back to talk to Night-Friend.” _

Steel-Friend suddenly sighed loudly. “Can’t you make them stop? They’re too loud.”

Fire-Father glanced over at him and shrugged. “Ask them yourself. Although they probably should be a little quieter.” He looked down at the pair of young dragons. “We don’t want people to know that you’re here. It’s just like home, okay? No pets allowed, especially not dragons, so we have to keep it a secret. Got it?”

_ “Got it,”  _ Vermithrax and Griffin chirped in unison, one far more cheerfully than the other, which was almost sullen to Fire-Father’s human ears. Griffin’s golden tail flicked out and lightly tapped one of Vermithrax’s ears.

_ “I told you so,”  _ she mewed triumphantly. Her larger brother growled at her and shoved her out of the way to jump up beside Fire-Father’s newest project. The grey dragonlet batted at it softly with one of his paws, curiosity evident.

_ “Will you at least tell us what you’re working on?”  _ Vermithrax asked crossly.  _ “That was the first question I wanted answered anyways.”  _ Fire-Father didn’t reply, and the young dragon huffed before jumping back down to the floor.  _ “I’ll find out later.” _

He padded over to where Griffin was sleeping and stretched out beside her, grumbling to himself irritably. Fire-Father turned around to look at him. “You’re going to meet Laurel soon, so stop complaining, Mr. Huffypants.”

“Why are you introducing the dragons to Laurel?” Steel-Friend asked. “Aren’t they supposed to be a secret?”

“Laurel knows about them already,” Fire-Father dismissed. “Felicity told her. They know each other.”

“Is that your way of telling me that Laurel Lance works with the Arrow?” Steel-Friend sighed.

Fire-Father winced. " _May_...be...?"

* * *

Saphira watched as Snow-Sister read article after article about Dark-Friend, shaking her head with each new one that she started.  _ “Snow-Sister?”  _ She asked nervously.  _ “Snow-Sister, what are you doing?”  _ The woman didn’t reply, and Saphira tugged on the hem of her shirt with her teeth, careful not to tear the blue fabric.  _ “Snow-Sister, Dark-Friend is bad. Don’t trust him. You  _ can’t _ trust him.” _

Snow-Sister sighed and turned off the computers before standing up and walking towards the exit of the Star Lair. Saphira chased after her desperately. The human woman turned around to look at the small blue dragon. “Look, Saphira,” she began, “if-if Dr. Wells really did do this, I  _ have _ to be sure. I need proof.” She paused. “I need to confront him myself.”

_ “No!”  _ Saphira protested.  _ “You can’t! He’ll kill you! I can’t let him hurt you!”  _ Snow-Sister kept walking, and Saphira threw herself in her path.  _ “Fine. If you want to confront Dark-Friend so badly, bring me with you. So that I can protect you if he tries to hurt you.” _

Snow-Sister sighed and stooped down to pick the dragonlet up. “I guess you’re coming with me then, because there’s no way that I’m leaving this alone.”

Saphira squeaked in relief. Now she could make sure that Dark-Friend didn’t do anything to Snow-Sister. She let Snow-Sister carry her to her car in contented silence, sitting neatly in the passenger seat and wrapping her tail around her paws like a cat. She hoped that Mushu and Smaug were okay with her leaving-Snow-Sister was the one who was taking care of them while Fire-Father was away with Steel-Friend in the Bird City.

As soon as Snow-Sister pulled up next to a large house, Saphira’s muscles were tensed and she was ready to fight. Dark-Friend would not be able to lay a single finger on Snow-Sister while she was here.

She trotted alongside the woman, watching every dark shadow for signs of danger. Maybe Dark-Friend (they should really change it to enemy) had set traps that would hurt Snow-Sister or Fire-Father if they tried to challenge him. Or maybe he was already waiting, ready to spring from the darkness the minute that Saphira let her guard down and gave him an opening to attack.

But the pair made it to the front door without incident.

Snow-Sister pressed the small button beside the door, and it sent a loud chiming sound echoing through the house. Saphira’s hackles raised and Snow-Sister set a hand gently on her back to calm her down.

After a long moment, the door opened a crack. Before it would go any further, the world around Saphira blurred, and she smelled Sparks-Brother. Chirping with delight and relief, the dragonlet licked his hand as he set both her and Snow-Sister down beside a road underneath dark tree branches that arched high above their heads.  _ “Sparks-Brother! You came! I’m glad that I didn’t have to fight Dark-Friend, even though I said that I wanted to. He could have hurt Snow-Sister if I tried, and that would have been really bad. So I’m happy you’re here!” _

“Wha-are you spying on me now?!” Snow-Sister demanded angrily as she glared at Sparks-Brother.

“Caitlin, what were you doing at Wells’s house?” Sparks-Brother looked at her with wide eyes. Saphira wound around his legs and tried to tell him that she had been going to confront him, but Snow-Sister beat her to the punch.

“I-I was gonna talk to him and get some answers of my own,” Snow-Sister defended her actions.

“You can’t!” Sparks-Brother gasped. He gripped at his hair. “You cannot talk to him.”

Snow-Sister growled, and Saphira took a few steps back. “Oh, so I’m just supposed to stand by and watch all of you ruin this man’s life?! Ruin  _ my  _ life?”

Saphira stepped forwards again and gently head-butted Snow-Sister’s ankle.  _ “I’m here. It’s okay. I’m here.” _

“What are you talking about, ‘your life’?” Sparks-Brother asked, and it wasn’t nearly as angry as it had been before.

“Those nine months that you were in a coma,” Snow-Sister began shakily, “were the worst of my life.” She paused and took a deep breath. “I lost my reputation, my fiance… And through all of that, Harrison Wells stood by my side. He told me everything was gonna be okay. If Dr. Wells is who you say he is, everything I’ve done since the minute I stepped foot in STAR Labs… Has been a lie.”

“Caitlin,” Sparks-Brother murmured. Saphira licked Snow-Sister to comfort her. She didn’t really know what she was talking about, but the dragonlet knew that Snow-Sister needed the gesture. “If I am right about  _ all _ of this, and you tell him what’s been going on, I’ll never be able to get my dad out of prison. Cisco and Joe are in Starling City right now looking for evidence. If they find some, we’ll know for sure.”

“Barry-” Snow-Sister started to say.

“Look, if not for me, just do it for him,” Sparks-Brother pleaded.

“Jesus,” Snow-Sister breathed. “I can’t believe you’re pulling the ‘dad’ card.” Sparks-Brother laughed softly and shrugged. Saphira purred along with him. Snow-Sister shook her head. “It’s dirty pool, Barry.”

“Just until Joe and Cisco get back,” Sparks-Brother promised. “Please.”

After a long moment Snow-Sister nodded. Sparks-Brother smiled at her. Snow-Sister crossed her arms and rubbed her shoulders. “Now, can you take me and Saphira back to my car? It’s freezing out here.”

“Sure. Why did you even bring Saphira, anyways?” Sparks-Brother asked, picking up the dragon and the human woman. The world went strange for a minute and made Saphira’s head start to hurt, and then it snapped back into place.

Snow-Sister shrugged and opened her car door. “She wanted to come and wouldn’t let me leave without her.”

Unseen by Snow-Sister, Sparks-Brother patted Saphira’s head. “Good girl,” he whispered. “I’ll bring you some beef jerky tomorrow for a special treat, is that okay?”

In reply, Saphira purred.

* * *

Vermithrax paced back and forth.  _ “Why are we up here?” _

_ “So that Fire-Father can collect his payment and so that you can meet Night-Friend,”  _ Griffin responded. She was looking down onto the streets below with interest.  _ “It’s nice being so high up.” _

Fire-Father looked around and pulled his jacket tighter around his shoulders. “C’mon, where is she?” He muttered. “Does she know how hard it is to get up onto the freaking roof?”

“I do, actually,” a voice spoke up from behind them. As the pair of dragons and single human spun around, the wind shifted, allowing them to smell the intruder for the first time. Well, the first time for Vermithrax, seeing as how Griffin had already met her.

The golden dragonlet bounced towards her.  _ “Night-Friend! You’re here! This is my brother.” _

Night-Friend scratched her horns. “Hi. And I’m guessing that you’re Vermithrax?”

_ “Yes, I am,”  _ the grey dragon replied.  _ “And you’re the reason that Fire-Father has been so happy all day.” _

Usually he would have been suspicious of someone who did that, especially after what happened with Saphira and Golden-Enemy (as she had been so named by the blue dragon), but Night-Friend smelled friendly. And dangerous, but not to Fire-Father or to the dragons. More like… She could kill if she wanted to, but chose not to. Vermithrax approved of that. It was similar to being a dragon in some ways, or at least it would when he got older and bigger.

Griffin pounced on her brother’s tail.  _ “See, I told you that Night-Friend was good.” _

Vermithrax pulled his tail away and then held it against his side to prevent Griffin from attacking it again.  _ “Yes. And Fire-Father likes her too. Not in the mates-way, too. Good.” _

_ “Uh-huh,”  _ Griffin nodded.  _ “If she was, that would be bad. Really, really bad.” _

_ “We would have to fight her,”  _ Vermithrax mused.  _ “I do not think that I want to fight her.” _

* * *

Saphira knew the minute that the person walked through the door that they were  _ not  _ Sparks-Brother. They may have looked like him and sounded like him, but they didn’t smell like him. Scent couldn’t be faked. Appearance and vocalization could. So she puffed herself up, arched her back, lashed her tail, and started yowling at them. Smaug and Mushu joined in the second that they poked their heads through the door and saw what was happening.

_ “Imposter!”  _ Smaug howled.  _ “You’re not Sparks-Brother! You don’t belong here! Get out get out get out!” _

The strange person leapt backwards. “What the hell…?!”

Snow-Sister glanced at him suspiciously. “Why are they going nuts? They’ve never done this before.”

The imposter stared at them in horror. “What-what are those things?!”

Snow-Sister frowned and glanced back and forth between Not-Sparks-Brother and the dragons before understanding lit up in her eyes. She scowled. “Sic ‘em, guys. That’s not Barry, although it looks like you know that.”

The trio of dragons needed no other urging.

In a few moments, the human that had been impersonating Sparks-Brother was successfully tied up and handcuffed. Snow-Sister nodded. “Good thing I was already working on something to counteract his powers. Otherwise we would have been in big trouble. Keep an eye on him-er, them, while I’m gone.”

A few minutes after she walked out of the room, a woman appeared in front of them. “Barry? Caitlin? Cisco? I need to talk to-ah!” She jumped backwards, chocolate brown eyes wide and horrified. “What the hell!”

Snow-Sister sped back into the room. “This isn’t what it looks like!”

“It looks like Barry is tied up with a bunch of  _ dragons  _ watching him!” The woman shouted, waving her arms.

“Okay, then, it’s almost exactly what it looks like. But it isn’t actually Barry! It just looks like him and talks like him.” Snow-Sister blushed. “But, yes, they’re dragons.”

The woman stared at Smaug, Mushu, and Saphira in shock. “I-I don’t… I don’t really understand.”

Snow-Sister set a comforting hand on her shoulder. Saphira padded up behind her and licked the human woman’s hand, ignoring the way that the new intruder tensed and stared at Snow-Sister in shocked amazement. “It’s a long story.”

“Yeah?” The strange woman (she needed a name) crossed her arms. “Well, I’ve got time to listen.”

“Long story short, Cisco found them in a box and raised them. Me, Barry, and Dr. Wells were the only ones who knew about them, but Barry told Joe and Eddie. We didn’t want to tell you because the more people that know about it the more likely it is that someone will slip up and tell someone else, who might let the government know,” Snow-Sister explained. She held up her hand to stall the next question. “Barry wanted to tell you, but we convinced him not to. You can imagine why we wouldn’t want anybody knowing about them-they’re still just babies, and they might be used for experiments or something like that.”

The woman sighed. “Okay, fine. I guess that  _ does _ make sense, although I’m still going to talk to Barry about it.” She eyed the man who was stretched out unconscious on the floor uneasily, and Snow-Sister shook her head and mouthed “it’s not him”. The new human bit her lip “Do they have names? I’m assuming that they do.”

“Yeah,” Snow-Sister said, sounding relieved. “The red one is Smaug, the blue one is Saphira, and the green one is Mushu. There’s also Vermithrax and Griffin, but they’re with Cisco.”

The new woman nodded. “Where is Cisco anyways?”

“He’s… Taking a few personal days,” Snow-Sister said evasively.

Saphira leaned forwards and sniffed the new woman. She was more than a friend, the dragon decided. She was Rain-Sister.


	8. The Trap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is a little bit over 100,000 words long.
> 
> *screams into the void for all eternity*

“Really?” Steel-Friend said. “For three very smart people, that was very stupid. What if Wells had caught you in that…” He paused.

“Time vault,” Fire-Father informed him, rubbing the back of Mushu’s horns. The green dragon licked his hand. He knew that his siblings were upset about not having been with Fire-Father and Snow-Sister and Sparks-Brother when they went to look for more things to prove that Dark-Enemy (he was officially an enemy now in their eyes) was a bad person. But Mushu understood that now that Rain-Sister knew who they were, they couldn’t let anybody else know. And they had to guard the cells to make sure that nobody escaped to hurt their friends and family.

“Thank you,” Steel-Friend acknowledged.

“Okay,” Question-Brother, who had finally been given an official dragon name, began as he looked around at the assembled humans and dragons. “I know we’ve seen a lot this past year, but  _ time travel?” _

“I did it,” Sparks-Brother spoke up. Smaug purred as the human scratched his spines. “Or I  _ will  _ do it, I mean.”

“Excuse me?” Question-Brother asked incredulously. Saphira bumped her head against his shoulder and chirped. She knew that he was Rain-Sister’s mate, but she had assumed that he would know more because of that. Rain-Sister seemed very smart.

“One of the two speedsters in Barry’s house the night his mother died _ was _ Barry,” Fire-Father informed him, patting a confused Griffin on the top of her head. He walked into the middle of the room to stand directly in front of Question-Brother. The golden dragonlet followed him, ever-hungry for affection. “I mean, the Flash. He was there. Which means… One day in the future, Barry will travel back in time to that night.”

Question-Brother blinked a few times, sighed, and looked around at everybody. He huffed. “Okay.”

“Actually,” Sparks-Brother corrected hesitantly, “I wasn’t talking about that.” Smaug tilted his head to one side, and Mushu’s wings opened and closed. Griffin puffed up before deflating again, and Saphira nuzzled Question-Brother softly. “I kind of… Already time-travelled. By accident.”

“What?” Steel-Friend frowned at him in confusion. Smaug blinked his yellow eyes slowly.

_ “What does he mean?”  _ The red dragon asked his siblings.

Vermithrax yawned widely.  _ “I think he’ll tell us if you’re quiet.” _

Smaug glared at him angrily.

“I-I was running to try and stop a tsunami from hitting the city-” Sparks-Brother began, and Smaug hissed. That did  _ not  _ sound good.

“When was that?” Snow-Sister inquired, looking baffled. Vermithrax briefly narrowed his eyes at Sparks-Brother before lowering his head back down onto his paws.

“A few weeks ago.” Sparks-Brother bit his lip and shook his head. He gestured to Fire-Father. “Right before you started getting those dreams.”

“Oh. You mean the ones where Wells uses his superspeeding hand to shred apart my heart? Those?” Fire-Father sighed, sitting down. Griffin hopped up into his lap.

“Yes. Right. So,” Sparks-Brother took a deep breath, “what if they’re not dreams?”

Snow-Sister furrowed her brow. “What else could they be?”

Griffin tilted her golden-amber head to one side as she realized something.  _ “Memories.” _

“Memories,” Sparks-Brother echoed in the human tongue that most of them used.

“I’m not following,” Steel-Friend sighed. Mushu crossed the room and stretched out at his feet with a small grumble of content.

“Okay, well, what if that day Cisco found out that Wells is the Reverse-Flash, and then Wells killed him, but when I ran back a day, I changed the timeline so that event never happened?” Sparks-Brother proposed. Smaug arched his back and hissed, all of his siblings following suite. They didn’t like to imagine a world without Fire-Father.

“But if it never happened, how can Cisco remember it?” Steel-Friend gestured to Fire-Father and Sparks-Brother. Fire-Father joined in and pointed at Sparks-Brother.

“I don’t know," Sparks-Brother said, shaking his head. “I don’t know. I think the important thing is he _ does.”  _ Sparks-Brother looked around. “Guys, I think I’ve got a  _ really bad  _ idea.” Smaug lashed his tail back and forth. He did  _ not  _ like the sound of that, not at all. Sparks-Brother looked over at Steel-Friend and frowned. “Joe? Joe, are you listening?”

Steel-Friend started. “Yeah.”

“We-we have to access Cisco’s memories somehow,” Sparks-Brother began. Griffin curled around Fire-Father to the best of her abilities, whispering to him even though she knew that he couldn’t understand her. Fire-Father rubbed her horns and stroked her spines gently, looking at Sparks-Brother intently. He seemed nervous, and the dragonlets could smell the apprehension pouring off of him in waves. It made them nervous. Sparks-Brother continued. “Somewhere in his subconscious is the key.”

“The key to what, now?” Steel-Friend looked back and forth between Sparks-Brother and Fire-Father.

“Putting Wells away behind bars forever and getting my dad out of prison,” Sparks-Brother informed him.

Snow-Sister frowned at him and looked at Question-Brother like she couldn’t believe that he wasn’t questioning this at all. It was even in his name, after all. “And how are we going to do that?”

_ “Good question,”  _ Saphira chirped.

Sparks-Brother sighed. “We’re gonna get Wells to confess to killing my mom.”

Smaug’s spines lifted. He knew that that was a good thing, that Dark-Enemy confessing would be a really good thing, but he didn’t want Fire-Father in any danger when it happened. So far it seemed mostly safe, but what if Dark-Enemy found out? What if he tried to hurt Fire-Father? Tried to hurt Snow-Sister? Sparks-Brother? Question-Brother? Rain-Sister? Steel-Friend? Maybe he would even hurt their friends in the Bird City, Honey-Friend and Nowings-Friend. Not even Night-Friend, who seemed dangerous from what Griffin and Vermithrax had told them, would be safe from Dark-Enemy if he found out.

Vermithrax raised his head and looked over at his brother.  _ “Smaug, calm down. Nothing dangerous is happening yet.”  _ He bared his teeth and flexed his talons.  _ “And if it does, I will be the first to sink my claws into Dark-Enemy’s traitorous flesh. You can count on that.” _

_ “He hurt Fire-Father,”  _ Griffin trilled,  _ “and he will have to get through us if he ever wants to hurt him again.” _

* * *

 

“Okay,” Fire-Father asked nervously, “can we go over this one more time?”

“Yes,” Snow-Sister said calmly, although there was a hint of exasperation in her voice. “You put the glasses on, fall asleep, and start dreaming. Not that hard.”

“Yeah, except I’m pretty sure I  _ die  _ in this dream,” Fire-Father shuddered. Griffin licked his hand for comfort. She knew that none of them would be able to help him in his dreams, but that wouldn’t stop her from helping him before and afterwards. “If I go back into it, am I gonna die in real life? I mean, what are we talking about here is this  _ Inception _ or  _ Dreamscape _ ?”

Steel-Friend held something out to him. “Here. Drink this.”

Fire-Father laughed nervously. “What am I, five?”

“Just drink it,” Steel-Friend sighed.

“Okay, I’ll drink it.” Fire-Father drank the milk, and Saphira gently headbutted him. He would be okay. Dreams couldn’t hurt you, not like real life could. Right? Fire-Father would be fine. Fire-Father had to be fine.

“You’re gonna be fine, Cisco,” Sparks-Brother assured him.

Fire-Father ran a hand through his hair and shook himself. “Ah, okay.” 

He leaned back onto the table (Griffin curled up beside him in the crook of his right arm) and let Snow-Sister place the strange-looking glasses over his eyes. He sighed. Snow-Sister paused for a moment as if to steel herself before she set the glasses down. “The glasses are emitting a low level delta wave, would  _ should  _ help you fall asleep.”

“Okay,” Fire-Father said doubtfully. “I gotta warn you though…” His words started to slow down, and Griffin felt his breathing even out and his heartbeat steady. He was starting to fall asleep, far deeper than he had been the last several nights. “Usually it takes me… A long time… I mean, I’m not saying I’m, like… An insomniac or anything…”

“Ah,” Steel-Friend chuckled as he finally passed out. “So that’s how you get him to shut up.”

“He’s entering REM,” Snow-Sister said in amazement. “It’s working!”

Sparks-Brother smiled at her as he scratched underneath Smaug’s chin as the dragon purred softly. “Cisco, can you hear me? You’re dreaming, bud.”

Suddenly, Fire-Father spoke, and Mushu stretched his wings wide open in surprise. “Whoa,” he gasped. “Guys… This is  _ mad  _ freaky.”

Sparks-Brother’s eyes widened. “Okay, well, um, where are you?”

“Um…” Fire-Father swallowed, and Griffin snuggled deeper into him, purring loudly and hoping that he could hear her. “In the Cortex. I mean, I know I’m just dreaming that I’m in the Cortex, but it feels so real.”

“What is dream-you doing?” Sparks-Brother asked.

“Caitlin just left,” Fire-Father said slowly. “I asked her to take Wells to Jitters. Griffin’s here, and the other dragonlets are doing… Something. I don’t know.”

Sparks-Brother looked at Snow-Sister, who frowned and shrugged. Sparks-Brother bit his lip and Smaug curled around his shoulders. “Wait, why do you want Wells out of the lab?”

“I think he might have tampered with my work.” Fire-Father paused. “I need to check. And I guess Griffin is coming with me.” There was a long pause. “Okay. Okay, I’m walking to the bunker.” Another pause. “Aw, man, I love this shirt. I thought the dryer ate it.”

Steel-Friend laughed, covering his mouth with his hand. Sparks-Brother fought to keep the smile off of his face. “Focus, Cisco.”

_ “Yes, Fire-Father, focus,”  _ Griffin whispered.  _ “I’ll keep you safe in your dream, don’t worry.” _

“Okay, okay,” Fire-Father huffed. “All right. Now I’m… Running tests on the containment system. Griffin is still here, by the way. But… This data, it doesn’t make any sense. All the supercapacitors, they were all still fully charged.” His voice took on a nervous edge. “There’s absolutely no reason that the man in yellow should have escaped.”

Griffin curled closer to Fire-Father, Mushu and Smaug springing up onto the table to join her.

Suddenly, Fire-Father sucked in a deep breath. “Oh my god.” All of the other humans leaned forwards. “It was just a hologram…” Sparks-Brother looked at Snow-Sister and at Steel-Friend. “He tricked us.”

Griffin felt Fire-Father’s heart suddenly start to speed up and she snuggled even closer to him.  _ “It’s okay, you’re okay, whatever it is isn’t real. You’re okay. Everything is okay.” _

“Oh god, Wells is here,” Fire-Father gasped. Vermithrax’s jaw clenched. He was suddenly reminded of the screams that would tear from Fire-Father’s throat late at night, the nightmares and horrors that stalked his dreams. They were the only things that Vermithrax couldn’t kill.

“Cisco, it’s just a dream,” Snow-Sister assured him softly, rubbing his shoulder. “He can’t hurt you.”

“You’d better be right about that,” Fire-Father whispered, trembling. Griffin made a small sound of distress and Snow-Sister rubbed her ears gently and hushed her. Fire-Father stiffened. “...Eobard Thawne.”

“Thawne?” Steel-Friend asked, coming up behind Sparks-Brother and Snow-Sister to stand in between them. “Like Eddie Thawne?”

“You killed Nora Allen,” Fire-Father said through clenched teeth. Saphira whistled in distress.

Sparks-Brother set his hand on Fire-Father’s leg and leaned down over him. “Wait, Nora? What-what about my mom?”

“He’s confessing,” Fire-Father muttered. Griffin licked his cheek.

“Cisco?” Sparks-Brother questioned. Fire-Father didn’t appear to have heard him before. Steel-Friend and Sparks-Brother exchanged worried glances.

“He-he didn’t wanna kill her,” Fire-Father whispered. Sparks-Brother’s eyes widened as Fire-Father continued to speak. “It was you, Barry. He was trying to kill you.”

There was a beeping sound from beside Snow-Sister, and Vermithrax whipped around, heart already pounding. Mushu shook his head at him before flattening his ears as Snow-Sister spoke. “His blood pressure is 200 and his heart rate is 147. Guys, he’s losing higher brain function.” She looked at Fire-Father as he started to shake and his breathing grew faster and more ragged. “Cisco, you’re gonna be okay. It’s just a dream. You’re gonna be okay.”

“His hand, it’s vibrating, he’s gonna _kill_ me, he’s gonna kill Griffin, he’s going to kill all of you and-!” Fire-Father started to twist, and Griffin started kneading his shirt and keening softly, desperately hoping that he would be able to hear her. _Wake up!_ She begged him silently. _Wake up, wake up, wake up! Please! We_ _need you to wake up, Fire-Father!_ But she knew that he couldn’t hear her, that he would never be able to hear her.

“Oh, god,” Snow-Sister whispered, and Saphira’s head snapped around. “He’s going to have a stroke.”

Sparks-Brother jumped back. “Alright, get him out!”

“Help me, help me,  _ please!” _ Fire-Father begged, and Vermithrax hissed in frustration. Why couldn’t he help?

Sparks-Brother held Fire-Father down to the bed. He winced and closed his eyes at Fire-Father’s pleading. “Cait!”

“Help me, help me, help me! No!” Fire-Father’s last words stretched out into a scream, and he shot up off of the table, chest heaving. Snow-Sister immediately wrapped her arms around him while Sparks-Brother stepped back, clapping a hand over his mouth.

“Hey, hey, you’re okay. It was just a dream. You’re okay,” she murmured to him. All five of the dragonlets jumped up beside him, curling up and making comforting sounds.

Fire-Father buried his face in his hands, and Mushu could smell the fear and horror pouring off of him in thick waves. Snuffling, he pressed himself up against the human man. “Oh god,” Fire-Father panted. “It felt so real.”

Sparks-Brother, who had sat down once he was certain that Fire-Father was awake, looked up at Steel-Friend. Steel-Friend frowned down at him. “Barry?”

“My mom,” Sparks-Brother whispered. “This was my fault.” A buzzing sound interrupted him, and on instinct Sparks-Brother pulled it out. He looked at the caller ID and slowly rose to his feet, looking at Steel-Friend in horror. “Hello?” There was a pause, and Sparks-Brother started to walk towards the door before freezing in his tracks and looking at Snow-Sister, Fire-Father, and Steel-Friend, as well as the five young dragons. “Dr. Wells”-all of them looked up at him in surprise-“yeah, sorry, yeah. It’s a bad connection right now.” Another beat. “Uh, why, what’s-what’s going on?” His eyes widened and he put the phone on speaker. “A fire, where?”

Vermithrax’s hackles raised and he snarled as Dark-Enemy’s voice floated through the room.  _ “How dare he speak after what he did?”  _ The small grey dragon growled.  _ “He should not even be left alive!” _

_ “When I get my claws on him,”  _ Mushu hissed slowly, tensing his muscles and crouching down much to the surprise of the usually mild-mannered dragon’s siblings,  _ “I’ll make him wish that he had never even thought about touching Fire-Father.” _

_ “Dark-Enemy doesn’t deserve to live,”  _ Smaug snarled as his red tail started to lash back and forth.

_ “Just save some of his life for me to extinguish,”  _ Griffin yowled. The small dragon was ready for war.  _ “I’ll enjoy watching it drain from his eyes.” _

_ “Violent,”  _ Saphira commented.  _ “But I am with you, Griffin-Sister.” _

Vermithrax bared his fangs in satisfaction.  _ “Soon, Dark-Enemy will draw his final breath.” _

* * *

“So… Wells set up a fake showdown with a fake opponent who was never really there?” Question-Brother asked, living up to his name. Griffin arched her back and glared down the person that she had decided to call Redsparks-Demon, who was also apparently Dark-Enemy.

Sparks-Brother shrugged. “He figured if we saw both of them together it would prove that he wasn’t the man in yellow.”

“This all just keeps getting crazier and crazier,” Question-Brother said in amazement. “I mean, metahumans, dragons, Wells being the guy who killed Barry’s mom… I can’t be the only one who’s weirded out by this, right?”

Snow-Sister stepped out of the elevator as Fire-Father made the pictures disappear. “I just talked to Dr. Wells,” she announced as Saphira scurried along behind her. The dragon had gotten to big to ride on her shoulders now. “He’s attending a lecture downtown, won’t be back until five.”

“Alright Cisco, you know when he gets here, you need to be working on the trap so he  _ sees  _ you set off the hologram,” Sparks-Brother instructed him. Fire-Father nodded and lowered his gaze to the floor.

“Hold on,” Steel-Friend protested. “Isn’t that in your dream when everything went all…?” He trailed off and waved his hand.

_ “Kali Ma, Temple of Doom,  _ yeah. That definitely happened,” Fire-Father sighed and puffed out his cheeks. “But this time, I’m ready for him.” He exchanged a glance with Snow-Sister, who nodded. “I originally designed the forcefield to keep a speedster from getting out.” Fire-Father jogged up onto the large platform. Saphira’s tail twitched nervously. “But I’ve reversed it. Now it won’t let one in.”

He pulled something out of his pocket and pressed a button on it, and Saphira mewled in surprise. Pressing a paw up against where a barrier had momentarily formed, she hissed with shock as she tumbled through it. Fire-Father smiled and scratched her spines while lifting his other hand and gesturing to Sparks-Brother in a ‘come at me’ motion.

Sparks-Brother blinked and looked over at Steel-Friend before pushing both him and Question-Brother backwards a few paces. “Back up.”

The four dragons that weren’t Saphira darted backwards along with the humans. Saphira stepped a bit closer to Fire-Father. It looked like Sparks-Brother was going to run at them, and he was so fast that he would probably just keep on going right through her. When Sparks-Brother had backed up to the other side of the room, he looked directly at Fire-Father and nodded. Fire-Father nodded back, and then Sparks-Brother charged.

There was a blur of lightning and a bang as Sparks-Brother collided with a small metal table near the wall. Snow-Sister, Steel-Friend, and Question-Brother jumped backwards in surprise, and Smaug zoomed forwards to check on Sparks-Brother and make sure that he was okay. Snow-Sister ran to Sparks-Brother’s side. “Barry, are you okay?”

Sparks-Brother groaned from where he was lying on his back. Smaug licked his face and he tried to smile, looking as if it physically pained him to do so. Sparks-Brother lifted his head up off of the floor and blinked at Fire-Father. “It works.”

Steel-Friend hauled him to his feet as Fire-Father nodded to himself with satisfaction and anxiety etched onto his features. “Okay, as long as I’m inside, Wells won’t be able to get near me.”

“And I will be in the Cortex watching and recording everything that happens.” Snow-Sister stated her part of their plan. Vermithrax looked at his siblings. They knew that if anything went wrong, they had all the permission that they needed already to attack Dark-Enemy and make him  _ pay _ for what he had done to Fire-Father. Even if none of them really remembered it, they knew that it was bad.

“As soon as we get the confession we need to free my dad, I’m moving in,” Sparks-Brother promised. Smaug blew a small wisp of smoke out of his nostrils. It was the closest that he had ever come to breathing actual fire so far.

“So what do I do?” Question-Brother asked eagerly.

Steel-Friend sighed and frowned. “Wells also threatened Iris.” The dragons straightened up at the mention of Rain-Sister’s human name. “So if something goes wrong here, we need you to keep an eye on her until Wells is neutralized.”

“I’ll always keep Iris safe, Joe. Although it’s getting a little bit harder now that she knows about the dragons and is getting one step closer to figuring out Barry’s secret every day, it doesn’t mean that I’m not still up for the challenge,” Question-Brother said solemnly. He turned and walked away, Mushu following him for a few paces before turning around and running back to Fire-Father’s side.

The human sat down with his legs hanging off the edge of it, Snow-Sister beside him with the other dragonlets all huddled around. Snow-Sister rubbed Fire-Father’s shoulder. “You don’t have to do this, you know,” she said softly. “I’m sure that Barry will understand if you don’t want to risk your life to help him.”

Fire-Father shook his head even as the five young dragons meowed in agreement with the woman. “It’s not just about Barry. If Dr. Wells killed me in that… Other timeline, then he might have done the same thing to the dragons. Or to Dante. Or to… Or to you, Caitlin. He might have killed Eddie or Iris, Ronnie or Stein or  _ both, _ Barry himself, Joe even. Wells may have killed Simon Stagg, he may have killed Mason Bridge, and he definitely killed the original Harrison Wells. He’s a murderer, and he deserves to rot away forever.”

Snow-Sister smiled at him and wrapped one of her arms around his shoulders in a hug. “You’re very brave, Cisco. You know that, right?”

_ “Very brave,”  _ Griffin agreed.  _ “We’ll make sure that nothing happens to you, don’t worry. Even if something goes wrong, we’ll all be there to make sure that Dark-Enemy doesn’t lay a hand on you.” _

_ “Yes,”  _ Vermithrax grumbled.  _ “He will regret ever trying to hurt anybody that we care about. Anybody who tries to hurt Fire-Father will regret it.” _

Fire-Father stroked them. “What are you guys chattering about? Care to let me in on the secret?”

Mushu curled the tip of his green crocodilian tail around Fire-Father’s wrist.  _ “Don’t worry,”  _ he murmured.  _ “It’s not a secret, and it’s only to protect you from bad people like Dark-Enemy, Blistering-Enemy, Golden-Enemy, and Iceshard-Enemy.” _

“Is that a no?” Fire-Father joked.

Snow-Sister laughed and stood up, stretching her arms up above her head and reaching out to pull Fire-Father back onto the actual floor. “Come on, Cisco. Wanna get some coffee or something at Jitters? Like old times.”

Fire-Father hesitated. “Fine, but you’re paying. I paid last time.” He jumped to his feet, ignoring Snow-Sister’s outstretched arm and turning to look at the dragons. “Bye guys, I’ll be back soon. If you break something, I’ll know. I’ll feel a disturbance in the force, or something like that. Be good while we’re away.”

* * *

It only took one whiff of the scent of the man who was currently advancing across the floor towards Fire-Father for the dragons to realize that it was not Dark-Enemy.

Instead, they caught the familiar shifting smell of the man who had pretended to be Sparks-Brother, the one that they had decided to call Shifting-Enemy. Vermithrax howled with rage and burst from his hiding place. Here, at long last, was something that he could take his rage out on!

“No!” Fire-Father and Sparks-Brother shouted in unison, and then Vermithrax’s claws were sinking into human flesh. Shifting-Enemy screamed, and then the grey dragon felt his skin  _ ripple  _ and shift underneath his claws. Suddenly, instead of attacking someone that looked like Dark-Enemy, he was attacking someone who was roughly five times his size with muscles that Vermithrax strongly doubted he could tear.

There was a soft gasp of “Bates” from behind him, and then Vermithrax was joined by four more dragons, his siblings sinking their teeth into Shifting-Enemy’s flesh. Then there were two loud bangs, and the human underneath them collapsed. Their skin rippled one more time as they changed back to their true form permanently as Shifting-Enemy changed for the last time. Blood trickled over Vermithrax’s claws, and he looked over at where Fire-Father, Sparks-Brother, and Steel-Friend were all standing and staring at him. Steel-Friend had something in his hands that smelled acrid, and the dragonlet somehow knew that that was what had killed Shifting-Enemy.

Footsteps pounded towards them, and Snow-Sister skidded to a halt inside of the room. “I saw the dragons attacking Wells and figured that you guys would need…” She trailed off and stared at Sifting-Enemy’s corpse in surprise. “What the hell happened in here?”

Vermithrax suddenly stiffened and whipped around as Dark-Enemy’s voice began to ring out of nowhere through the room. “I told you this before,” Dark-Enemy said tauntingly, “I am always one step ahead, Flash. Allow me to reintroduce to you Mr. Hannibal Bates, and his incredible ability to transform into any person he touches.”

“No,” Sparks-Brother started to whisper. “No, no, no, no.”

“I knew that ability would come in handy,” Dark-Enemy continued, and Vermithrax realized that he wasn’t actually in the room at all. “I did  _ not  _ expect it to come in handy this soon.”

“You used him!” Sparks-Brother shouted angrily, heedless of whether or not Dark-Enemy could actually hear him. “Like you used all of us!”

“Oh, he served a purpose,” Dark-Enemy agreed from his hidden vantage point. “Didn’t take much convincing, just the simple promise of his freedom.”

“You ruined my life. All of our lives!” Sparks-Brother snarled. Griffin jumped into Fire-Father’s arms and he pressed a small kiss to her forehead.

Snow-Sister squared her shoulders. “We stood by you, after everything that happened!”

“I can see how this must be difficult for you to understand,” Dark-Enemy said, and Smaug’s hackles rose at the way that he almost sounded  _ caring.  _ “But trust me, your lives now are so much better because of what I have done for you.”

“You don’t have to hide anymore,” Steel-Friend challenged him. Mushu hissed in agreement. “We know you’re not Harrison Wells, just tell us who you are.”

“A confession will get you nowhere,” Dark-Enemy spoke again. Vermithrax considered trying to find Dark-Enemy’s hiding spot and then ripping out his eyes before he could escape. “You’ve seen who I am. You know what I can do.”

“You wanna kill me, go ahead,” Sparks-Brother said finally. The other humans and dragons in the room all looked at him. “I’m not gonna fight you. Just tell the police what you did! Get my dad out of prison!”

“i don’t want to kill you, Barry. I need you.” Dark-Enemy sounded surprised that Sparks-Brother would even reach that conclusion at all. “And…” He paused for a long moment. “I also did not anticipate, as difficult as the past fifteen years have been for me, how much I would come to love working with you. With all of you. And yet that does not change what needs to happen.”

“Then face me now!” Sparks-Brother challenged him. Smaug coiled around his ankles and tried to hiss at him that no, that was a suicide mission, Sparks-Brother would end up dead and then where would they be?

“Oh, we will face each other again,” Dark-Enemy murmured, although it still sounded loudly over the speakers. “I promise you we will. Soon. Very, very soon.”

Fire-Father suddenly pulled out his phone, and his eyes went wide. “He’s in the time vault!”

When the dragonlets turned around (the had all spun to look at Fire-Father when he spoke), Sparks-Brother was gone in a blur of motion and yellow lightning. Steel-Friend jumped forwards, but he was too late to stop him. “Barry!”

Smaug lashed his tail back and forth and took off after the human man. He followed the scent trails that Sparks-Brother always left, even if they were far fainter when he was going so fast. But Sparks-Brother had a head start and superspeed, and there was no way for the small red dragon to catch up to him. Smaug skidded to a halt outside of an open door and snarled angrily to himself. Didn’t Sparks-Brother know that they had to protect Fire-Father before Dark-Enemy tried to hurt him again?

Back in the large room where everything had gone so wrong so fast, Mushu was pacing back and forth. He didn’t know what to do. Usually he would try to protect Fire-Father, Steel-Friend, Sparks-Brother, and Snow-Sister (and maybe Question-Brother and Rain-Sister if they needed it too), and of course he still wanted to, but… They had to find Dark-Enemy. They had to make sure that he  _ knew _ that he was going to be defeated. That he had been beaten. Dark-Enemy had to know that he wasn’t going to be able to even  _ think  _ about laying a hand on any of the dragonlet’s friends or family, not without severe consequences. Vermithrax, who was beside him, looked like he would be more than happy to dish out those consequences.

Griffin followed Fire-Father and Snow-Sister as they started running towards the main room where they almost always seemed to be. The smallest dragon kept looking around, certain that Dark-Enemy was hiding in the shadows and ready to attack them at any second. But the footsteps that were following them only belong to Steel-Friend. The mysterious shadows cast onto the wall came from machinery and from Griffin’s own siblings. The pounding in her ears was just her own heartbeat.

Saphira made sure to keep pace with Snow-Sister as they raced down through the winding hallways and corridors. Fire-Father was safe for now, although she made sure to always have an eye on him. Nobody would take him away from her again. Not after Iceshard-Enemy, Golden-Enemy, and Blistering-Enemy. And Dark-Enemy might have been worse than all of them combined-it was his fault that Fire-Father woke up screaming in the middle of the night, after all.

Vermithrax was the last one to remain in the same room where they had fought Shifting-Enemy. His tail was completely still and his body was frozen, his eyes the only thing that moved as they scanned the hidden corners for threats to his family. Satisfied that there were none, he reared back up onto his hind legs and spread his wings as far as they could open. Vermithrax bared his teeth angrily.  _ “Do not come near my family again. Or I will rip you limb from limb.” _

There was no reply.

* * *

“We need to find Iris!” Sparks-Brother said as he ran into the room at normal speeds.

“Why?” Steel-Friend asked. Mushu blinked at him before going back to scanning the room for danger again and again and again.

“Wells, he’s been watching all of us,” Sparks-Brother explained, crossing over to the far wall. “He had surveillance set up  _ everywhere.  _ Our homes, my lab at the police station,  _ Central City Picture News. _ ” Fire-Father immediately started working twice as fast, Snow-Sister hovering nervously over his shoulder. “Cisco, call me when you have a location.”

Then he was gone, taking the red suit with him, which Mushu knew meant that he was wearing it and therefore didn’t want anybody to know that it was actually him. Looking around, he gathered his siblings to him with a small meow. The five dragons sat in a rough semicircle around him, each one of them with an eye on Snow-Sister, Steel-Friend, and Fire-Father.  _ “We have to protect them.” _

_ “Agreed, Mushu-Brother,”  _ Smaug growled. He curled his lip up and showed his teeth.  _ “We cannot allow anybody to lay a hand on them again.” _

_ “Can we?”  _ Griffin asked, scuffling her paws on the ground. The other four dragons looked at her and she elaborated.  _ “You’ve seen what Dark-Enemy can do, or at least some of it. He  _ is _ Redsparks-Demon” _ -she and her siblings shuddered at the mention of the horrible creature behind the glass- _ “and if he really wanted to hurt Fire-Father, Snow-Sister, Steel-Friend, Sparks-Brother, Question-Brother, or Rain-Sister, I do not know if even we could stop him. At least, not permanently. _ ” She stalled Vermithrax’s inevitable protest with a twitch of her wings.  _ “Vermithrax-Brother, even you know that outright attacking someone does not solve all problems.” _

_ “True,”  _ he relented,  _ “but it does work for most of them.” _

That was when Mushu’s entire body tensed and he lept to his feet. Saphira blinked at him nervously and rested her tail against his flank.  _ “Mushu-Brother, are you okay?” _

_ “Something’s wrong,”  _ Mushu growled.  _ “I can’t quite put my paw on what it is, but something’s not right.” _

That was when there was a humming of red lightning, and Redsparks-Demon (Dark-Enemy!) stood in the very center of the room. Snow-Sister gasped and froze in place while Fire-Father screamed and launched himself backwards away from the speedster. Vermithrax snarled and lunged for him, but Redsparks-Demon batted him away as if he hardly weighed anything.

For a moment there was silence, and then Steel-Friend shot at the evil human in front of them. It didn’t appear to have any effect, and whatever it was that had killed Shifting-Enemy so easily went right through Redsparks-Demon and clanged against the wall behind him.

“Too slow,” Redsparks-Demon taunted in his awful distorted voice.

Then he was gone again, and for a second nobody appeared to have any idea of what they were supposed to do. That is, until Griffin realized that something was missing and started to wail loudly.

Fire-Father and Snow-Sister could only stare at the place where Mushu had been only moments before.

* * *

Mushu pressed his muzzle against the bars of the cage that Redsparks-Demon had put him in. It was too small to be anywhere close to comfortable and it pressed painfully up against his leg, which had been injured during his capture, although luckily not too seriously. But he had more important things to worry about right then; like the fact that Redsparks-Demon had captured Question-Brother along with him.

“You might as well take that mask off,” Question-Brother panted. “I know it’s you, Wells, or whoever you  _ really  _ are.”

“Well,” Redsparks-Demon hissed in that awful voice that sounded nothing like Dark-Enemy’s and yet as somehow exactly the same. “Allow me to introduce myself.” Redsparks-Demon pulled back his hood, and when he spoke it was in the same voice that had guided Fire-Father, Snow-Sister, and Sparks-Brother since before the dragonlets had ever arrived on the scene. “My name is Eobard,” Redsparks-Demon-Dark-Enemy said. “Eobard Thawne.”

Question-Brother stared at him for a moment. “I don’t understand. Why do you have my name?”

“Why?” Redspraks-Demon mused. He pulled out a small blue box and opened it, revealing something shiny and sparkly that Mushu instinctively wanted to get his claws on. Then he closed the box and threw it away to one side. “Well, because we’re family, Eddie.”

“Funny, I haven’t seen you at any reunions or weddings,” Question-Brother scoffed as Redsparks-Demon turned and started to walk away. Mushu wished that he would stop talking before he got himself hurt or worse.

Redsparks-Demon stopped. “That is funny,” he laughed, although there was no real humor in it. “And the reason for that is because as far as those guest lists are concerned, I haven’t been born yet.”

Question-Brother gaped at him. “So that’s why you didn’t kill me that night at STAR Labs.” Redsparks-Demon smirked and shrugged. Question-Brother stared. “This whole thing… It’s been about  _ me?” _

Mushu hissed in warning, but the two humans ignored his distress. Redsparks-Demon shook his head. “Not a chance. You, my friend, and that dragon over there”-he gave Mushu a derisive look-“are simply my insurance.”


	9. Grodd Lives

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little later than it usually is on Saturdays, sorry about that. Had a horse show to go to.

Mushu closed his eyes and tried to breath fire again, warmth creeping up the back of his throat. But instead of exiting his mouth in a burst of flame, the only thing to happen was a trickle of smoke leaving his nostrils. The green scaled dragon snarled and tried to lash his tail in frustration, only for it to bang up against the metal bars of the cage.

“Stop doing that,” Question-Brother told him tiredly. “Our best hope is to wait here and hope that Barry and Joe find us before Wells kills us.” He paused. “Even if he is my great-great-great-grandson or whatever, he still deserves to be killed. Or at the very least thrown in jail for the rest of his life.”

Mushu curled up his lip and clawed at the cage bars. He had to get out of here. He had to make sure that his siblings were okay. He had to make sure that Fire-Father was safe. He had to-

Mushu stiffened as red lightning crackled and set his teeth on edge. His spine arched and he hissed angrily at Redsparks-Demon, who merely smirked at him before looking at Question-Brother. “The Flash won’t be able to save you,” Redsparks-Demon informed his captive. “He’s never been able to catch me before. He’s always been too slow, never fast enough to catch up to me.”

Question-Brother didn’t say anything, instead closing his eyes and leaning back as far as was physically possible. Mushu threw himself against the bars again, trying desperately to free himself. The dragonlet wasn’t going to give up on escaping. He couldn’t give up on escaping. Even as his talons started to bleed from where they had torn on the metal bars.

If Mushu and Question-Brother remained her, Redsparks-Demon would surely kill them.

Finally,  _ finally, _ after hours of work and attempting to break free from the cage, Mushu’s efforts were rewarded. A burst of flame escaped from his jaws, hot enough to soften and heat the metal to extreme temperatures but not warm enough to melt them. But it was a start, and one that made Question-Brother smile, so Mushu would keep working. For the sake of them both.

That was when the lock on the cage broke, and Mushu made a bid for freedom. Or at least, he started to before remembering that Question-Brother was still trapped there. So he returned to where the human man was tied up, biting and clawing at the bindings on his wrists and ankles. Question-Brother’s skin wasn’t resistant enough for Mushu to try breathing fire again, so the going was slow. They didn’t have  _ time _ for slow. Not when Redsparks-Demon could be back at any minute.

That was when something hummed by Mushu’s ear, and then his wings erupted with pain. He screeched in agony, twisting in Redsparks-Demon’s grasp and trying to claw and bite at him. But it was impossible to focus when there was pain shooting through his entire body with every breath that the small green dragon took. He didn’t even notice when he was tossed back into the cage, only that everything  _ hurt so bad _ . The door to his cramped prison slammed shut, pinning Mushu’s wings into an awkward position that just made them hurt even more than they had before.

Mushu whimpered and tried to move so that his wings would be more comfortable, but it only made the pain worse. He could blurrily see Question-Brother glaring at Redsparks-Demon through what might have been tears. “Hey!” Question-Brother protested. “Stop that!”

Suddenly Redsparks-Demon was leaning over them, whispering something into Question-Brother’s ear. Then he dug his fingers deep into Question-Brother’s upper arm, hooking and twisting his hands until his shoulder was a bloody mess. The human man paled and let out a cry of agony as Redsparks-Demon disappeared, and Mushu was left alone with Question-Brother. And with his pain.

* * *

“Hey,” Sparks-Brother greeted as he entered the room, reaching up to knock on the doorframe. “You planning on keeping all those cameras Wells used to spy on us? Kind of creepy, don’t you think?”

Fire-Father, who was fiddling with the tech while looking blankly off into space, nodded shortly. “First rule of mechanical engineering, dude. Never waste good tech. ‘Sides, it might help us find Eddie and… Mushu.” A beeping sound snapped him out of his thoughts, and Fire-Father wheeled over a few feet. “Central City Gold Reserve is under attack.”

“Gold?” Sparks-Brother said with surprise that was echoed by Griffin and Smaug. “That’s the case Singh wants us on. I’ll be right back.” He vanished in a blur of motion and yellow lightning.

Fire-Father went back to messing with the pieces of machinery, although he made sure to keep an eye on the monitors tracking Sparks-Brother too. His mind was clearly elsewhere, however. As were those of the four dragonlets who hadn’t been taken by an insane speedster who may or may not have been from the future. It reminded them eerily of how it had been when Fire-Father had returned without Saphira, although at least this time Fire-Father wasn’t planning on leaving the Star Lair for good.

Fire-Father looked at the four young dragons. They looked back at him. “Don’t worry, guys,” he promised weakly. “We’ll find Mushu, and we’ll find Eddie, and we’ll make Wells pay for taking them away from us.”

It was obvious to both the dragons and to himself that he didn’t really believe what he was saying.

* * *

Smaug smelled Rain-Sister before he saw her and padded down the hallways, air from the vents carrying her scent towards her. She crouched down and carefully held out her hand. “Hey,” she said nervously. “You’re Smaug, right?” Smaug chirped in confirmation before ducking underneath her hand and pressing his horns up against her palm. Rain-Sister smiled slightly-she was still nervous around the dragons, but now she could see that they weren’t nearly as scary as she had thought that they were when she first laid eyes on them. “Can you take me to where Barry is? I need to talk to him. Right now.”

Smaug huffed. He was pretty sure that he knew why she wanted to talk to Sparks-Brother. But he still flicked his tail and started trotting off down the hall, head lowered. As soon as they both arrived in the room where Sparks-Brother was being checked over by Snow-Sister, Rain-Sister marched up to Sparks-Brother. He leaned back with wide eyes. “How did-”

“What the  _ hell _ Barry Allen?” Rain-Sister hissed. “Or would you prefer that I called you the Flash?”

Snow-Sister and Fire-Father did the smart thing and beat a hasty retreat to the other side of the room, behind the white console. Sparks-Brother blinked owlishly at Rain-Sister as he paled. “H-how did you-”

“Well, I didn’t  _ really  _ know until the other night on the bridge,” Rain-Sister growled. “But looking back on it, I honestly can’t believe that I didn’t realize before. The awkward excuses, how much you ate, all of the time that you were spending here at STAR Labs, how terrified you looked when I told you that I knew about the dragons (which I’m also still a little bit upset about, by the way)-why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted to!” Sparks-Brother protested. Saphira wondered if he knew that he was just making it worse on himself in the long run. Probably not. “But then there were all of the metahuman attacks in the city and the situation with Dr. Wells being the man in yellow, and Joe made me realize that it wasn’t safe for you to know about anything that would make you a target-”

“My dad knew about this?” Rain-Sister interrupted him. “Dr. Wells is the man who took Eddie and… Oh, god.” She looked sick. “If he killed your mom, what do you think he’ll do to Eddie? Will he kill him too?”

“I don’t know,” Sparks-Brother said honestly. “But we’ll stop him, we’ll find Eddie and Mushu in time.”

Rain-Sister crossed her arms and narrowed her dark eyes at him. “You’ll forgive me if I’m having a hard time believing anything you tell me right about now.”

“I know, I know, I should have told you right away,” Sparks-Brother agreed. Smaug crossed over to his side to curl up against him in comfort. Sparks-Brother snuck a glance over at where Snow-Sister and Fire-Father were listening to every word. “Do you mind if we discuss this in private?”

Rain-Sister shook her head and crossed her arms, tapping her fingers on her sleeve. “Not at all. Lead the way, Allen.”

Sparks-Brother flinched and walked past Fire-Father and Snow-Sister, Smaug following him. The small red dragon looked at his siblings and at the two humans.  _ “I’ll follow them,”  _ he said.  _ “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that Rain-Friend doesn’t get  _ too _ angry.” _ Although it was probably too late for that at this point. _ “You all can wait here.” _

Vermithrax huffed.  _ “Try not to get in the way.” _

* * *

Mushu whimpered as he tried to shift into a more comfortable position. The pain had mostly localized to only hig wings, but the place where they attached to his body also occasionally burst with fiery agony that shot through his spine. He just wanted to get out of here.

At least Redsparks-Demon had brought a bandage for Question-Brother’s wound. He had yet to do anything similar for Mushu’s injuries, and the small green dragon doubted that he would.

The door at the top of the place where they were being held opened loudly, and Mushu flinched back only to yelp with pain. Question-Brother craned his neck to look at the source of light, squinting his eyes against the brightness. He sighed and his shoulders slumped when he realized that it was just Redsparks-Demon. “I don’t suppose you brought lunch.”

Redsparks-Demon didn’t answer. When he walked down and Mushu saw him clearly, the dragonlet noticed that he was disguised as Dark-Enemy once again. “Did you know,” Redsparks-Demon began, “that human beings can survive up to two months”-he dug his fingers into the wound on Question-Brother’s arm, making him cry out in pain-“without food? Nobody has done any official studies on dragons, either, but I do wonder…” Redsparks-Demon looked at Mushu. The green dragon glared at him angrily. “I do wonder if it is something similar.”

“Is that how long you’re planning on keeping me- _ us _ -here?” Question-Brother asked him.

“You know,” Redsparks-Demon paused and looked at Question-Brother for a long moment. “I doubt it will come to that.”

Question-Brother swallowed. “You wanna tell me what we’re doing down here?”

“No,” Redsparks-Demon answered shortly. Mushu snarled at him until the human (was he human? Or was he really a demon?) man looked at him, eyes momentarily flashing pure red.

“You told me we’re related,” Question-Brother began.

_ “Be quiet,”  _ Mushu tried to warn him to no avail.

“That you’re from the future.” Question-Brother paused. “Prove it.”

“Yeah, I don’t have to prove anything to anyone,” Redsparks-Demon dismissed. Mushu let a few rings of smoke float out of his nostrils as he bared his teeth angrily. He wanted the pain to stop and he wanted to get  _ out  _ of there. Didn’t Question-Brother want the same? Why was he challenging Redsparks-Demon?

“Yeah, well, I think you’re full of crap,” Question-Brother retorted. Mushu tried to warn him that he was making a huge mistake. “And whatever you’re trying to do, you know you’re not going to get away with it because the Flash is-”

In a heartbeat, Redsparks-Demon was three inches from Question-Brother’s face, eyes glowing scarlet and voice distorted. “Stop talking.”

Mushu yowled and jumped backwards only to collide painfully with the bars of the cage. Question-Brother’s breath caught in his throat and he quailed away from Redsparks-Demon. The green dragon looked around. They were going to find a way to get out of here. Weren’t they?

* * *

“I just got a call from Joe,” Sparks-Brother announced. He was walking down one of the many hallways of the Star Lair with Fire-Father and Snow-Sister just behind them. All four of the remaining dragonlets padded along beside the trio of humans. “The Central City Gold Reserve is about to transport 300 million dollars in gold bars to their Coast City vault. Singh told Joe they think the man in the mask is gonna make a play for it.”

“Okay, but we still don’t know if he’s responsible for those weird images you saw,” Snow-Sister pointed out. She scratched Saphira’s blue scales as the dragon hopped up onto the table beside her. Sparks-Brother sighed and looked at Fire-Father.

“How are they transporting the gold?” Fire-Father asked. Smaug rubbed his head against his father’s legs, happy that he was finally showing an interest in something other than finding Mushu and Question-Brother. Not that they weren’t infinitely more important than any amount of sparkly things in the world, but Fire-Father had barely spoken since Mushu had been taken outside of assuring the dragonlets that they would get their brother back somehow.

A small smile appeared on Sparks-Brother’s face. “Um, an icecream truck.”

Fire-Father smirked. “I can work with that. Probably.”

He sat down and started working at the computer while Snow-Sister and Sparks-Brother discussed possible ways to beat their latest enemy. The dragonlets huddled together and chirped softly to themselves. Usually they would be playing and wrestling while the humans ignored them or moved out of the way, but it didn’t really feel right to do so without Mushu around to tell them to stop. Or, on rare occasion, even join in the fun.

Suddenly, Fire-Father jerked backwards before leaning back over the computer. “Whoa, the truck just got hit by a landmine!”

Snow-Sister looked over at him (she had sat down beside him after about five minutes) before glancing at Sparks-Brother. He disappeared in a flash of lightning.

Vermithrax raised his head and watched him go before flicking his ears as Sparks-Brother’s voice rang out through the speakers. “Is Joe okay?”

Snow-Sister shook her head even though she knew that he couldn’t really see her. “We don’t know yet.” There was a small beeping sound as Vermithrax lowered his head back down onto his grey scaled paws, and then Snow-Sister smiled to herself. “He’s fine, Barry. He’s alive.”

Good. Vermithrax didn’t want to lose anybody else, even if it wasn’t to Redsparks-Demon.

* * *

Smaug glared at the person in the box. He stood there, staring off into space above the small red dragon’s head. The other humans except for Fire-Father were all watching him as well, although Smaug’s siblings were farther back away from the box. All except for Griffin and Mushu, who were with Fire-Father and still captured, respectively. Sparks-Brother frowned. “What is wrong with him?”

“I pulled a bullet out of his shoulder,” Snow-Sister said in amazement.

“Which should hurt like hell,” Steel-Friend interjected.

“And it didn’t even seem like he felt it,” Snow-Sister continued. Smaug chirped and tilted his head before looking at her. “I did a complete body scan, and otherwise General Eiling is perfectly healthy.”

“So… Why is he just standing there like a robot?” Steel-Friend asked with a small frown of confusion.

Footsteps sounded behind the group, and Smaug automatically spun around before realizing that they only belonged to Fire-Father. “I just got off the phone with ARGUS,” Fire-Father announced. “Officially, Eiling is on administrative leave.”

Steel-Friend looked at him. “Unofficially…?”

“I spoke with Diggle’s wife, Lyla, and she said Eiling’s been missing for the past three months. And ARGUS is covering up for it.” Fire-Father shook his head and reached down to pet Griffin and Saphira.

“Makes sense,” Sparks-Brother sighed. “Last time I saw the general was when Ronnie and I broke Professor Stein out of that military facility. I’m sure they’re covering that up too.”

“So where has he been since then?” Steel-Friend muttered, looking at the man in the cell. Smaug arched his back and hissed angrily. He didn’t know very much about the bad man in the box, but it was enough to know that he didn’t like him. Maybe he was even already an enemy. Green-Enemy, that was his name. Steel-Friend took a few steps closer to the box. “General Eiling. Why were you trying to rob the gold reserve?”

There was no reply, and Snow-Sister walked up to stand at Steel-Friend’s shoulder. “Maybe he’s in some kind of a trance?”

Sparks-Brother looked at Fire-Father, then down at Smaug, then finally back at Green-Enemy. “General?” He asked hesitantly. “Do you remember me?”

Green-Enemy’s eyes suddenly moved to stare blankly at Sparks-Brother. When he spoke, it was in a deep guttural voice that grated on Smaug’s scales. “Flash.”

“Oh, how does he know you’re the Flash?” Steel-Friend hissed to Sparks-Brother.

The other human man shrugged and looked back at Fire-Father. “I don’t know.” He turned back to Green-Enemy. “General-”

“Eiling not here,” Green-Enemy rumbled as he interrupted Sparks-Brother. “Eiling bad.”

Snow-Sister’s brow furrowed and the corners of her mouth tilted down slightly. “Maybe it’s some kind of psychotic break?” She suggested. “Presenting itself as dissociative identity disorder?”

“Caitlin,” Green-Enemy growled, head raising up slightly to look at Snow-Sister. Snow-Sister blinked and leaned away in shock. Saphira hissed at the man in the box, tail lashing slowly from side to side as she stood protectively in front of Snow-Sister. “Caitlin,” Green-Enemy repeated. “Good.”

“Oh, uh, thank you?” Snow-Sister said nervously. Saphira growled at Green-Enemy and flapped her wings a few times in an attempt to intimidate him before settling back down.

“Mm, forget multiple personalities, you guys have seen  _ The Exorcist,  _ right?” Fire-Father laughed nervously, rubbing Griffin’s horns. Smaug hissed and tilted his head. He did  _ not  _ like Green-Enemy.

“You and your movies,” Steel-Friend muttered, looking back up at Green-Enemy. He nudged Sparks-Brother with one finger. “Keep talking to him. He seems to respond to you.”

Sparks-Brother nodded. “Ah…” He paused for a moment. “Why is Eiling bad?”

“Eiling hurt me,” Green-Enemy replied, still wearing a blank expression. “I hurt Eiling.”

Steel-Friend and Sparks-Brother looked at each other. Smaug coiled around Sparks-Brother’s leg as the speedster spoke. “Okay. Uh, so if you’re not Eiling… Then who are you?”

“I am Grodd,” Green-Enemy rumbled. Smaug mewed in distress and nipped at Sparks-Brother’s leg, although the human man didn’t appear to notice or care. “Fear me.”

Smaug’s back arched.  _ “Bad human. Green-Enemy is a bad human,”  _ he tried to warn. _ “He will hurt you!” _

_ “The humans don’t understand you,”  _ Vermithrax reminded his brother. His upper lip curled up.  _ “Although I do agree. Green-Enemy is bad. But… I do not know if he is human. He does not smell dragon, but he does not speak the way that the humans do. Green-Enemy may be something… Other.” _

Sparks-Brother looked at Snow-Sister and Fire-Father, whose eyes were wide with shock. “Uh, what is a ‘Grodd’?”

Snow-Sister looked at Fire-Father, their shocked expressions mirror images.

* * *

Vermithrax slipped along the wall of the underground tunnel, wrinkling his nose at the sharp smells and tastes that bombarded his senses. Sparks-Brother, Steel-Friend, and Fire-Father were the only humans down there with him, although Griffin had insisted on accompanying the other four. Meanwhile, Smaug and Saphira were back with Rain-Sister and Snow-Sister at the Star Lair, hopefully making sure that everything was okay.

Steel-Friend lit something that turned bright orange before turning back to Fire-Father and Sparks-Brother. He held more of the things out to Fire-Father. “Cisco, take the rest of these flares, light them, and then drop them back as we go. It’s our path back.” Fire-Father nodded and tucked them safely away. Steel-Friend looked at him and then held out his hand. “Give me that banana.” Fire-Father passed the yellow thing over. “Okay. Stay close.”

Sparks-Brother shuddered. “Definitely.”

Vermithrax looked around. Something about this whole place set his scales on edge. He didn’t like it. What could be hiding in the shadows, ready to strike?

“I’m not going anywhere,” Fire-Father agreed.

Vermithrax glanced at Griffin as the small golden dragon wrapped the end of her tail around Fire-Father’s ankle.  _ “Stay with me.” _

Fire-Father looked down at her in surprise. “What are you doing, Sweet Bean? I’m not going to leave you down here with a possible meta-gorilla running around, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

_ “Of course you won’t leave us,”  _ Vermithrax chirped convincingly. He knew that Fire-Father would never be separated from them  _ willingly,  _ but he wasn’t really so sure with Redsparks-Demon running around. But Griffin needed the assurance more than ever because of that, because Question-Brother and Mushu had been taken.  _ “Come on, Griffin-Sister. You’re being silly.” _

* * *

“Thanks for sticking up for me,” Iris said, watching Caitlin from behind with her arms crossed. The other woman swivelled around in her chair and looked at her with a smile.

“Of course.” She paused for a moment and stroked Saphira as if the dragon were a cat. “For what it’s worth, Barry feels  _ really _ terrible about lying to you.”

“He should,” Iris huffed, walking forwards. She reached out tentatively towards Saphira’s horns, shaking her head in amazement as the dragon licked her fingertips happily. Iris still could hardly believe that there were actual, living, breathing  _ dragons _ at STAR Labs. At least the Fla-at least Barry had been around for long enough for her to get used to him. “You lied too,” she added, although it was softer and with less bite behind it. “Your fiance.”

“Ronnie,” Caitlin said, lowering her gaze down to the desk. “Yes.” She took a deep breath, and Saphira sat down, wrapping her blue tail around her taloned paws. “Uh, I thought he died in the particle accelerator explosion. But it turns out he just… Caught on fire.”

“Oh,” Iris said softly. She smiled at Caitlin hopefully. “But he’s okay?”

“Yeah, he is,” Caitlin confirmed with a nod. Saphira stretched as Iris replied.

“Good, I’m glad.”

They stood/sat in silence for a moment, broken only by Saphira’s purring as Iris continued to pet her. The dragon was pleased that the pair of women were getting along-she didn’t like it when her family and friends fought with each other, even when one of them clearly deserved to be scolded. Luckily, that didn’t happen often. Iris spoke up first. “So, how long have you guys had the… Dragons?”

“Well, Cisco found them in an alley in a cardboard box, like I said earlier,” Caitlin explained. “That wasn’t a lie. That was a few months ago, just before we found Ronnie again, so… Yeah. A few months. Not that long. We assume that they’re babies, although I have no idea how close to sexual maturity they are, or how old they’ll be before they start actually flying instead of just jumping off of high places and letting their wings catch the air so they can glide.” She paused when she saw that Iris’s eyes were starting to glaze over slightly. “I think they like you.”

“They are pretty cool,” Iris admitted, tapping Saphira’s nose with one finger before yanking her hand back as a small puff of smoke came out of the dragon’s nose. She looked at Caitlin with wide dark eyes. “You didn’t tell me that they could breathe fire!”

Caitlin blushed. “Oops. She and Vermithrax are the only ones who can do it so far, although Mushu was getting pretty close before…” She cut herself off and paused for a long moment. “Before Wells took him along with Eddie.” The doctor continued on in a rush. “I know, logically, that he isn’t as  _ important  _ as Eddie, because he isn’t a human being, but they’re obviously sentient to some extent. It’s just… Hard to explain.”

Iris rested a hand on her shoulder. “Hey. I get it.”

The two women focused their attention back on the camera that was attached to Cisco’s helmet, allowing them to see what the other three saw. And what they were seeing… Were designs roughly carved into the sewer pipe walls, crude shapes and letters that formed words. Well, one word, repeated over and over again like a written mantra.

Grodd.

Saphira  _ hrred _ nervously at the still-unseen threat to her family. Smaug stuck his red head through the door before bounding across the room to leap up beside her, making Iris jump in surprise while Caitlin ignored it. She was more than used to the dragons acting like cats and invading her workspace in their quest for entertainment, food, and attention.

Iris looked back and forth between Smaug and Saphira, the two dragonlets chirping and meowing to each other nervously. “Can they understand each other?”

Caitlin shrugged but didn’t take her eyes off of the screen as it went momentarily blurry as Cisco spun around to look at something. “I don’t know. Cisco thinks that he do, and for a while he tried to ‘learn their language’, but I don’t know. It’s certainly possible.” Caitlin smiled, although it didn’t quite reach her eyes, which still looked worriedly at the screen in front of her. “It certainly wouldn’t be the weirdest thing that we’ve seen. I work with a guy who has superspeed and my fiance is combustible-I got used to the dragons pretty fast.”

Iris laughed, although her shoulders were still pretty tense with worry for her father and best friend (and Cisco, whom she was at the very least friendly with when she saw him). “I guess when you put it like that…”

Suddenly, the camera footage lurched to one side. Caitlin leaned forwards nervously as her fingers gripped the edge of the table. “Cisco?”

A scream sounded from the speakers that Cisco and Caitlin had set up before the trio left STAR Labs. Iris gasped and Smaug nuzzled her arm comfortingly. The two women watched in horror as the footage flashed with gunfire, shaky from Cisco’s erratic movement. Iris shuddered. “They’ll be okay, right? I mean, my dad’s a cop, and Barry… Barry does stuff like this all the time. Doesn’t he?”

Caitlin didn’t reply, just began to mumble to herself. “Get out of there, come on, get out of there…”

That was when Joe screamed, making Smaug and Saphira both leap about three feet into the air and off of the table in shock. Iris gasped and leaned closer the screen as if she could somehow reach through and stop what had happened. “Dad!”

Smaug yowled and arched his back from his new place on the floor. His sister whimpered and curled up closer to his side. They were worried about more people than just their Question-Brother and Mushu now. Now, they had their Steel-Friend, their Sparks-Brother, their Fire-Father,  _ and _ Vermithrax and Griffin to fear for. And while they may have been able to do something before, when Redsparks-Demon was the only one that they had to fight. But now there are more enemies.

And they don’t know if they can defeat them all.

* * *

Mushu watched mutely as Question-Brother glared silently at Redsparks-Demon’s back. The green dragon was still in agony, his bloody wings pressed painfully up against the bars. If he tried to turn in any direction, they twisted again and started to throb once more. Redsparks-Demon paused in his work and turned around to narrow his thankfully not glowing eyes at Question-Brother. “Something you want to ask me, Edward?”

Question-Brother gritted his teeth. “I can understand why you might want to capture me,” he began, “but why the dragon? I mean, it’s pretty much useless as a hostage.”

Redsparks-Demon huffed out a small laughing sound and Mushu snarled at him. “It may be next to useless as a hostage for the police, but trust me… It is very valuable to Mr. Ramon, Ms. Snow, and Mr. Allen. If I end up needing something, that will be able to help me get it. That is especially true if I end up having to do something drastic to you.”

Question-Brother shook his head. “I still think you’re full of shit. If you were really going to kill me, you would have done it already.”

Redsparks-Demon arched an eyebrow at him. “Do you now?” His voice suddenly contorted. “Because even though I may need you alive for the time being, that does not mean that I am not willing to torture you, bring you to the very edge of death before letting you recover and then dragging you back down again, over and over again. Death and torture do not have to be mutual, Edward.”

Question-Brother paled even more as Redsparks-Demon vanished from where he was working on some sort of machine (he wasn’t going as fast as Fire-Father could have, even with his strange abilities) and reappeared in front of him in a flicker of red electricity. He clearly remembered what had happened last time that Redsparks-Demon had gotten close to him like that. Mushu certainly did. The man (demon?) leaned over him once more, his hand starting to hum like wasp wings as scarlet sparks jumped from blurry fingers to the vibrating palm.

Redsparks-Demon set his hand against the base of Question-Brother’s ribs, making the human man gasp in surprise and fear. But no blood blossomed on Question-Brother’s white shirt. Mushu whined anxiously and shuddered. He didn’t know what it felt like to have something humming  _ inside  _ of you, even though it didn’t really hurt quite yet, but judging by Question-Brother’s expression and the fear that rolled off of his scent in waves of terror, it probably wasn’t particularly pleasant.

That was when Redsparks-Demon pulled his hand back almost the rest of the way out of Question-Brother’s torso, and then the captive human let out a cry of pain. Red slowly began to stain his clothes, and Redsparks-Demon withdrew his arm back to his side. His eyes flashed glowing scarlet once again. “Do not question me again, or I might choose somewhere more vital to your survival.”

_ “Question-Brother, you have to be quiet,”  _ Mushu warned him. He whimpered in pain as his wings were jostled.  _ “You have to be quiet or he’ll hurt you. If he… If he kills you, think of what will happen to Rain-Sister.”  _ From what the dragonlets could tell, Rain-Sister and Question-Brother were mates, at least judging by how Question-Brother was always talking about her and how he had said that he would always protect her. Even though Rain-Sister seemed like she could easily take care of herself.  _ “Sparks-Brother and Steel-Friend will never forgive themselves.  _ Please, _ Question-Brother.” _

As if by some miracle Question-Brother had understood the small green dragon, he bit his lip and didn’t say anything other than hissing in pain. Redsparks-Demon went back to what he was working on, eyeing Mushu thoughtfully. The dragon hated how he was watching him, he hated that Redsparks-Demon had hurt Fire-Father, he hated that he was trapped, and above all he hated that there was nothing that he could do to stop him. Mushu shuddered as soon as Redsparks-Demon looked away, trying to relax his tensed muscles. But it only made his wings (or at least what was left of them) hurt even more.

Mushu closed his eyes and bowed his head. Everything hurt, and he just wanted to go  _ home,  _ back to Fire-Father and back to Griffin, Vermithrax, Saphira, and Smaug. Back to Sparks-Brother and Snow-Sister and Steel-Friend. He couldn’t even see the sky from down here. Mushu couldn’t stretch his legs, his wings, or his tail. Question-Brother was hurt. Redsparks-Demon had made it very clear that while Question-Brother would be left alive for now, being horribly injured wasn’t off of the table. And Mushu was even less valuable than he was-what would Redsparks-Demon do to him? To his siblings? To Fire-Father and Snow-Sister?

Something wet splashed down onto in paws, and Mushu realized that even if they didn’t do it often, dragons could cry.

* * *

“You’re experiencing a spike of activity in your central motor cortex,” Snow-Sister informed Sparks-Brother. Vermithrax snarled in anger and frustration. They didn’t have  _ time  _ for this! First Question-Brother and Mushu and now Steel-Friend were gone, and he had been there for two of them! He should have  _ done  _ something, should have stopped the Grodd-Creature and Redsparks-Demon. But he hadn’t. “It’s the same thing that we saw in Eiling.” Snow-Sister paused. “The images that you saw were some kind of psychic attack by Grodd.”

“First Eddie gets taken by the man in yellow,” Rain-Sister said bitterly as Saphira bumped her arm with her horns, “and now my dad…”

“We’re gonna save both of them, Iris,” Sparks-Brother said solemnly as he got up off of the bed that he was sitting on. Smaug chirped in concern and tried to pull him back down. “I promise you.”

“Hold up,” Fire-Father spoke up, putting down the ice pack that he was holding to his temple where there was already a purple bruise forming. He picked something up off of the table next to him and patted Griffin’s head as she licked his wrist. “I put a tracker in the tranq dart you shot Grodd with. As soon as it activates-”

“Cisco, I can’t wait for that,” Sparks-Brother interrupted. “I will search every  _ inch  _ of that sewer if I have to.”

“And what happens if you find them?” Snow-Sister pointed out. She narrowed her eyes at Sparks-Brother while stroking Griffin’s tail. “What happens if Grodd takes over your mind the same way he did with Eiling?”

“I’m-” Sparks-Brother cut himself off and sighed. “Can you guys build me something?” He asked instead. “Some kind of tech so he can’t get into my head?”

Snow-Sister and Fire-Father looked at each other disbelievingly. Fire-Father sighed and looked back and Sparks-Brother. “I don’t know. Maybe if Dr. Wells were here.”

“I don’t understand,” Rain-Sister said after a long pause. “Every day you guys figure out a way to help people. All of the Flash’s powers and all of this equipment, and you can’t save Eddie and my dad? And… Mushu?”

The other three humans looked at her as she walked away, pushing past Sparks-Brother. Vermithrax watched her leave.  _ “She has a point, you know.” _

_ “I do,”  _ Griffin agreed.  _ “But I think that Fire-Father, Snow-Sister, and Sparks-Brother could use a little bit of help seeing that.” _

_ “Agreed, Griffin-Sister,”  _ Smaug sighed. His scaly red tail twitched back and forth as he hissed softly to himself.  _ “We have to  _ make _ them see it. We have to get Mushu-Brother, Question-Brother, and Steel-Friend back. Whatever it takes, we have to bring the rest of our family back home.”  _ The other three dragonlets were all slightly taken aback by his solemn tone (although only Saphira and Griffin actually showed it).  _ “We can’t just leave them behind.” _

That was when the four dragons noticed that Sparks-Brother was gone, and Smaug took off after his scent. Griffin nuzzled Fire-Father while Saphira cuddled close to Snow-Sister, leaving Vermithrax by himself. After a moment of silent inner debate, he took off after his brother down the hallway.  He made it to them in time to hear Rain-Sister say, “Why did he insist on going down there with you? He’s always preaching about being safe but not  _ once _ does he think about running into danger himself.”

“Iris-” Sparks-Brother started to say, Smaug curling close to his leg. Vermithrax decided to take his chances with Rain-Sister, standing beside her and looking up at the human woman worriedly.

“No, Barry,” Rain-Sister interjected. Vermithrax mewled softly, the quietest sound that Smaug was pretty sure that he had ever heard his irritable brother make in his life.“He’s just a regular cop. He is not some  _ metahuman _ with superpowers. He’s not  _ you.” _

“You’re right," Sparks-Brother replied softly. “He’s not me. And  _ this”- _ he gestured to everything around him with one hand-“isn’t his fault. None of this is his fault. Look, yes, maybe Joe told me not to tell you that I was the Flash but I didn’t have to listen. I could have told you. A hundred times I could have told you, and I didn’t.” He paused and took a deep breath. “Yes, I should’ve. So you’re right to be mad-but don’t be mad at your dad. Be mad at  _ me.” _

“Okay,” Rain-Sister said evenly. Vermithrax could barely get a handle on her emotions, all of them swirling together into a toxic soup that flooded his senses. “Okay, then explain to me how the person I thought I knew better than anyone has been keeping secrets from me. Big, life-changing secrets. You were supposed to be my  _ best friend,  _ Barry.”

“I  _ am  _ your best friend,” Sparks-Brother protested. Smaug  _ hrred _ and bumped his head against his shin, burbling softly. Vermithrax arched his back slightly and hissed quietly. He could understand why Rain-Sister was upset, Steel-Friend and Question-Brother and Mushu were all missing, but that was exactly why they had to work together.

“How can you say that when the most important things in your life, the things that matter most, the things you’re supposed to share, you kept  _ all of them _ from me?” Rain-Sister snapped. Vermithrax raised his wings and flapped them twice. “You lied to me about everything.”

“I know, Iris, I know,” Sparks-Brother sighed. “But you haven’t been entirely honest with me either.”

Vermithrax growled warningly.  _ “Dangerous territory, Sparks-Brother.” _

_ “I can’t pull him back,”  _ Smaug huffed. He bared his teeth.  _ “I wish that the humans could understand us the same way that we can understand them.” _

_ “Agreed, Smaug-Brother,” _ Vermithrax sighed, wings and tail momentarily drooping. Smaug blinked his yellow eyes at him. Vermithrax rarely showed outward emotion other than anger, frustration, irritation, and combinations thereof, so this was new and strange. That was when the pair of brothers noticed that Sparks-Brother had turned around and was heading back towards where their siblings and Fire-Father and Snow-Sister were waiting. Smaug followed after him after nodding to Vermithrax.

The grey scaled dragon, however, waited with Rain-Sister. She looked down at him. “Barry’s being ridiculous,” she informed him.  _ “He _ lied to  _ me, _ not the other way around.”

_ “I believe you, Rain-Sister,”  _ Vermithrax informed her. He blinked slowly at the place where Sparks-Brother and Smaug had disappeared around the corner. _ “Sparks-Brother needs to apologize properly.” _

Rain-Sister paused. “I can’t believe that I’m talking to a dragon. Seriously, can you even understand me?”

Vermithrax purred.  _ “It doesn’t matter if I can understand you, it matters if you can understand me, Rain-Sister. Don’t you know that we are the ones who will warn you of danger before you are even aware of its looming presence?” _

* * *

“You know they’re gonna find me,” Eddie said as Wells (the Reverse-Flash? Eobard Thawne?) clambered back down the ladder into the large cavern. His confident voice was clearly an act, however, and his captor could see it. “And you, you’re not as smart as you think you are.”

“Oh, really? Because I’m a genius where I come from,” Wells (he was just going to call him that for simplicity’s sake) remarked. “Imagine how smart that makes me here.”

Eddie scoffed only to wince in pain as the wound on his ribs started to throb once more. “Because you’re from the future?” Wells hummed in agreement. “With a name like  _ Eobard  _ I guess you’d have to be.”

“Oh, no, Eobard is a distinguished name for a distinguished member of a distinguished family,” Wells (Eowells? Wellsobard?) said dismissively.

“Depressing to think all of my descendants are as crazy as you,” Eddie said bitterly. He watched the dragon (Mushu? Wasn’t his name Mushu or something like that?) in the small birdcage across from him blew a small puff of smokey fire out of his nostrils. His wings were still a bloody mess, the scabs tearing open whenever he moved. Eddie didn’t really know the extent of the damage-he was a cop, not a veterinarian, after all-but it was easy to tell that it was really bad. Mushu’s wings, or at least what was left of them after Wells-Eobard had shredded them, looked like a painful mess.

“No, no, no, no,” Wells-Eobard laughed. “The Thawne bloodline is chock full of influential politicians, scientists, captains of industry! Failures, such as yourself”-he jumped down to Eddie’s level-“are just the exception.”

Eddie frowned. “And what exactly makes me such a failure?”

“Tough question, Eddie.” Wells-Eobard huffed. “Where to start?” Mushu mewled and arched his back, causing his wings to start bleeding once again. “Oh, how about your career as a police detective? It’s  _ spectacularly _ uneventful.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see,” Eddie muttered. He tried to ignore the small slivers of dread that Wells-Eobard’s words sent through him. This guy claimed that he was from the future. What if he already had seen?

“No,” Wells-Eobard said as he shook his head and turned back around to look at Eddie, confirming the detective’s fears. “We  _ have  _ seen. I have seen. I am from the future, and  _ you  _ are the only Thawne to be all but forgotten by history.” The speedster smirked at his ancestor and walked back to his table to fiddle with whatever it was that he was making. “You are a waste of life, a waste of a man, and, oh no, you don’t even get the girl.”

Something unpleasant began to gather in the pit of Eddie’s stomach. Iris, what was he going to do to Iris? “What are you talking about?”

Wells-Eobard sighed and stepped away from what he was working on to walk back to stand in front of Eddie. He held out his hand and something glowing burst out of the top of it like a screen. Or a piece of paper. “Observe, if you will, the byline.” He paused for a moment. “Barry marries Iris, not you.”

Eddie stared at the innocuous line of text. No, this was a trick. Wells-Eobard was tricky, he had threatened Iris, murdered Barry’s mom, and apparently killed Cisco in an alternate timeline somehow. This was just another one of his attempts to get to someone, make them feel low and bad about themselves. Eddie tried to tell himself that it wasn’t working.

It was.

Wells-Eobard continued. “We’re just gonna have to give this ring”-he held out the beautiful ring that Eddie had pleaded with his family members for the rights to and then tossed it away-“back to Grandma Agnes.” Mushu growled quietly and seemed to watch it fall. “You, Eddie,” Wells-Eobard said softly, “won’t be needing it.”

He walked back over to his work station once again. Eddie sighed and bit his lower lip. Wells-Eobard was lying, he  _ had  _ to be lying. There was simply no way that he was from the future in the first place, much less being able to travel  _ back in time  _ to tell Eddie that he was a failure. There was just no way. That newspaper had to be faked. It wouldn’t even be all that difficult.

Unless…

Unless Wells-Eobard was telling the truth, and he never made anything out of himself. Never made a name in the history books. Never became anybody worth something, never became anything other than a police detective. Never became a hero. Never got the girl.

Mushu mewled sadly from his cage and whimpered in pain as his wings were cut open once more on the metal bars.

Eddie looked at the small green dragon. “Hey,” he called gently. Mushu looked up at him with wide yellow eyes. “Don’t do that. You’ll hurt yourself even more if you move, so try to stay as still as possible, alright?”

Wells-Eobard looked over at him. “You know, it might even be able to understand you. Or at least your basic intentions. Animals, especially domesticated ones, are certainly aware of the tone of your voice when you are speaking to them, and while dragons may be extraordinary animals, they are certainly animals all the same.”

“Great,” Eddie snorted, “I’ll add animal abuse to your list of crimes, along with theft of property, assault, trespassing, kidnapping, and, of course, who could forget murder?”

One of Wells-Eobard’s fingers started crackling with red lightning and Mushu arched his back, hissing through what must have been tremendous pain. The man levelled his gaze at the dragonlet before glancing back around at Eddie. His eyes shone an eerie red, although it didn’t fill the entirety of his sclera the way that it had before. “Do you want me to add to that list? Because if not, than I would suggest that you stop talking.”

Eddie swallowed and bit his tongue. He had no doubt that Wells-Eobard would make good on that threat.

* * *

Smaug stood stiffly beside Fire-Father as Sparks-Brother watched the box containing Green-Enemy. A low growl crept up his throat. He didn’t like this, he didn’t like Green-Enemy and he didn’t like that Sparks-Brother was planning on letting him out. Even though he wasn’t Grodd-Creature anymore and even though Steel-Friend was home safely, Smaug still didn’t like it one bit.

“Mr. Allen,” Green-Enemy greeted. “And Mr. Ramon.” Fire-Father flinched back some, shoulders tensing. Smaug leaned against him comfortingly. “How nice of you to visit. Exactly how long do you intend to keep me prisoner?”

Sparks-Brother looked at Fire-Father and sighed before reaching out and tapping in something that caused Green-Enemy’s cell door to open. “Your brain scan is normal,” he informed Green-Enemy, “which means Grodd is no longer controlling you. This prison is for metahumans, so you’re free to go.”

Green-Enemy looked at Sparks-Brother like he couldn’t believe him before stepping outside of the cell. He walked forwards a few steps and stood in front of Fire-Father and Sparks-Brother, hardly sparing Smaug a second glance. Sparks-Brother narrowed his eyes at him. “You  _ will _ get what’s coming to you, eventually.”

Green-Enemy turned to him. “I’m not ashamed of my actions, Mr. Allen. You’ve seen what these metahumans are capable of. Soon your prison won’t be enough.”

Sparks-Brother glanced back at the boxes while Fire-Father spoke up, voice trembling with rage and grief. “Not all metahumans are dangerous. The Flash isn’t dangerous.” He paused and swallowed thickly. “Bette wasn’t dangerous. Ronnie and Stein aren’t dangerous. Shaw-someone else that we know who’s a metahuman isn’t dangerous.”

“You’re afraid that I know that Mr. Allen over here is the Flash.” Green-Enemy smirked as Sparks-Brother flinched and Fire-Father tensed. “Don’t get your tights in a twist. I’ve known for months. If I wanted to come after you, I would have done it by now.” Green-Enemy looked down at Smaug, whose hackles raised as his tail started to lash slowly back and forth. “Although your little pet is new.”

He turned and started to walk away. Sparks-Brother stopped him. “But you think you’re gonna need me.”

Green-Enemy stalked back over to him and Fire-Father, although Fire-Father himself might as well have been invisible. “Harrison Wells turned me over to that beast. He used me like a damn puppet. So like it or not, we have a common enemy, you and I. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a gorrilla to hunt.”

Sparks-Brother narrowed his eyes. “Then you can’t go after any of the other metahumans that the particle accelerator created. Whether they’re good or bad, it doesn’t matter, but leave them to us. You can’t touch them.”

“And don’t even think about going after my dragons,” Fire-Father added, not even noticing that he had let slip that there were more than just the one. “They all breathe fire”-Smaug blinked up at him at the lie-“and they all can fly and they all have really sharp teeth, so don’t even  _ think _ about taking one of them.”

Smaug growled in agreement. _ “If you try to take away one of my siblings, I will not hold back.” _

Green-Enemy smirked again. “Don’t worry, Mr. Ramon. As long as Wells is still around to cause problems, I won’t touch your little beasts.”

Smaug watched him walk away nervously. He knew that Green-Enemy would keep the promise like he had said that he would, but what about after Redsparks-Demon was gone? After they captured him? What then? Would Green-Enemy come for them?

Come for him?

Smaug shook the bad thoughts from his head and padded down through the corridor as Fire-Father headed towards the small side room where Steel-Friend was resting and healing.

There was probably nothing to worry about. What they needed to focus on now was getting Question-Brother and Mushu back.

And making Redsparks-Demon  _ pay. _


	10. Rogue Air

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When Lisa says that she "couldn't be bothered" to look Barry up in this chapter, she's lying. She did. She' just a lying liar who lies.
> 
> Also, guess what mostly isn't canon? Flash Back! Yay! I loved the episode (for reasons that totally weren't Hartley and Eobard don't know what would give you that idea) but it just didn't make any sense for what I have planned. So. Yeah.

“I kept asking myself,” Cisco began, “why would Wells pretend to need a wheelchair?” He stood back and watched the trio of people across from him as Griffin nibbled on his shoelaces.

“Sympathy,” Caitlin answered with a small shrug, hands on her hips.

“See, that’s what I thought at first,” Cisco said excitedly. “But he’s the man in yellow, he’s the Reverse-Flash. He’s much smarter than that. Sympathy can’t be the only reason."

“It was just a misdirect. Like everything else Wells has done,” Joe pointed out. Caitlin nodded as he continued to speak. “I mean, the last person we’d expect to be the man in yellow is someone who lost the use of their legs.”

“That’s exactly right, Joe,” Cisco replied, beaming. Maybe he’d had a little bit too much caffeine earlier, sue him. He’d  _ needed _ the extra energy. Cisco set his orange energy drink down with a small warning to the dragons not to knock it over. “Which is why I started messing around with the wheelchair.” He flipped it on one side with the bottom facing his friends. “And that’s when I found this.”

Cisco slid a portion of the bottom to one side, revealing something round that glowed brightly. Vermithrax snarled at it and shifted his weight from paw to paw. Joe bent down to study it from a safe distance. “Damn,” he remarked. “You can’t get that at Radioshack.”

Barry crouched down as Cisco chuckled. “It looks like the tech inside Gideon.”

“I measured the output, and this thing is kicking off  _ serious _ juice. I mean, we’re talking enough to power all of Central City,” Cisco informed them excitedly. Caitlin raised her eyebrows and stared at the strange device in mute amazement. Saphira chirped and flapped her wings. It may not seem to be hurting anybody, but it was certainly dangerous looking, and it smelled like the Redsparks-Demon who had taken Eddie and Mushu. That was enough to make it bad and dangerous in her opinion.

Joe’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

“Oh, yeah,” Cisco nodded. Barry was still staring into the bright lights of the strange machine.

“What do you think Wells was using it for?”

Cisco took a deep breath. He pointed down at the wheelchair and started pacing back and forth. “I think this thing is some kind of battery.”

“Battery?” Joe looked at him with a small frown of confusion. Vermithrax hummed and tilted his head to one side.

“As in, Wells was using it to power himself,” Cisco explained. He picked up his drink off of the floor as Smaug almost knocked it over. “To gain more speed. And that’s why”-he pointed at Barry-“he’s so much faster than you.”

Barry raised his eyebrows and exchanged a small look with Caitlin, who shrugged. The computer behind Cisco suddenly beeped, making him jump and causing the engineer’s head to snap around in surprise. He ran over to the large console in the Cortex that they used to monitor Barry’s movements when he was out as the Flash and stared at one of the computer screens. Caitlin walked around to join him as Joe and Barry watched.

“The accelerator, it’s been reactivated.” Cisco frowned in confusion and worry. Griffin jumped up onto the desk in front of him to stare at the numbers and letters. The caramel-colored dragon dabbed a paw at the diagram and chirped.

Caitlin stared at it. “It can’t be.”

“How is that possible?” Joe asked, craning his neck to look down at the computer. “It blew up.”

“It-it had to have been rebuilt,” Cisco stammered. Barry slowly looked up at him. 

“Wells,” he said grimly.

“Even if he  _ did  _ rebuild it, how did Dr. Wells turn the particle accelerator on?” Caitlin pointed out. Saphira noticed that she was shaking slightly and purred, leaning her head against the human woman’s leg.

“He’s here,” Barry realized. “That’s why we couldn’t find him. He’s been inside STAR Labs the whole time.”

Barry and Joe took off for the particle accelerator (Barry didn’t actually take off, he just ran at normal human speeds). Cisco followed after them with a quick “Stay here” to Caitlin. She nodded and started typing, and Cisco clicked his tongue. “Smaug, Vermithrax, c’mon. Saphira and Griffin, you two wait here.”

He was almost to the door when he realized that he had forgotten his energy drink, which would serve as both a warning system and a way to keep him awake. He raced back to grab it, ignoring Caitlin’s confused look. Smaug and Vermithrax chirped something to their sisters and scrambled after Cisco, claws clicking loudly on the floor. The interspecies trio caught up with Barry and Joe as they approached the entrance to the particle accelerator.

Joe had his gun drawn so he went first, making sure that the way was cleared before allowing the other two humans and pair of dragons to join him. They slowly advanced on the open door. Smaug hissed and raised his hackles skittishly. He could  _ smell _ the apprehension coming from all three humans.

“Cisco, what did you bring that orange soda for?” Joe hissed.

Cisco didn’t bother correcting him and saying that it was an energy drink to keep him from collapsing. “Whenever something happens with the Reverse-Flash,” he explained in a whisper, “liquid floats in the air. You know, Barry’s fish tank, Wells’s champagne”- _ even though you guys weren’t actually there for that _ -“Lance’s coffee. Remember that? If this does the same thing, we’ll know that Wells is in there.”

They stood in front of the door. Barry looked over at Cisco and nodded. “Do it.”

He took a deep breath, glanced down at the two dragons at his feet, and then pressed the button to open the door. The trio walked slowly into the open space, Smaug and Vermithrax momentarily hesitating before padding quickly after them. “Man,” Joe gasped, looking around at the empty particle accelerator with wide eyes. “This is big.”

Cisco stared down at the orange liquid that began to slowly rise out of his cup as bile rose up in his throat. Wells was  _ here. _ “Oh god,” Cisco whispered. His head snapped up and he stared at Joe and Barry. “Guys!”

A blur of red lightning suddenly shot past them, throwing Cisco back against the wall of the corridor. Smaug yowled and Vermithrax tried to chase after the scarlet bolt before realizing that he was more needed with Smaug, Cisco, Barry, and Joe.

Barry and Joe looked at each other for a moment before Barry took off after the red streak, Joe calling his name after him in a vain attempt to stop him from running off. Cisco took a few steps after him before sprinting over to Joe’s side. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said as he stopped the older man from going after the two. “What do we do now?”

One of the cells started to pull down and open, and a computerized voice spoke up.  _ “Prisoner Release Protocol initiated.” _

The two looked up, Cisco’s fingers crossing as he silently hoped that the cell would be one of the ones without anybody inside of them. The engineer sighed with relief when he saw that the cell was empty. “That’s the one that used to hold Shawna, I think,” he explained to a confused Joe. “Since we released her, there’s nobody for the computer to let out."

Footsteps sounded loudly behind them, and Joe spun around with his gun raised. It ended up pointing directly in between Caitlin’s eyes, and she froze with a small squawk of fear and surprise. Joe immediately lowered the gun. “Sorry. I thought you might have been Wells, or whoever he really is.”

“I-it’s fine,” Caitlin stammered. She looked over her shoulder nervously before shaking herself and biting her lower lip. “I just thought that you guys might need help if a prisoner got released, although it doesn’t even look like one was anyways.” She shrugged. “I told Iris, who just got here by the way, to stay in the Cortex with Saphira and Griffin, but I don’t think-”

More footsteps sounded, and Iris rounded the small sort-of corner. She crossed her arms. “I’m not going to stay behind while you guys look for  _ my  _ boyfriend.”

Caitlin and Cisco exchanged glances. Cisco shrugged slowly. “You know, she has a point.”

Joe sighed. “Fine, you can come. But stay behind me the whole time, got it?”

Smaug’s ears pricked and he peered down into the darkness. He was pretty sure that he could hear something down there. Cisco crouched down and patted his red scaly head. “See anything, Cheeseburger?”

The small dragon chirped and bobbed his head. Joe held up a hand. “Wait, I heard something.”

This time they all noticed the thin voice coming from beneath their feet. Iris stiffened. “Was that…” She broke off for a moment and took a deep breath. “Was that Eddie?”

“I think so,” Joe frowned. “Come on, let’s see if we can find him. But stay close to me.”

Smaug and Vermithrax bounded ahead and found a small hatch, one that it was instantly clear the voice was coming from. Joe yanked the hatch open to reveal a ladder. Eddie’s words floated out of it. “Help! Help!” There was a pause and then a dry cough. “Down here!”

Joe and Iris immediately lunged for the ladder that led down into the depths, although Joe got there first. Iris clambered down as soon as his feet hit the cement floor, with Caitlin and Cisco on her heels. Wrists. Whatever.

As soon as Smaug and Vermithrax landed on the ground, the two dragonlets lunged for a shadowed corner where small pained sounds were emanating. They could smell their brother as well as the cloying coppery tang of blood. As Joe worked to free Eddie, Cisco rocked back and forth on his heels. Eddie was important, yes, very, very important, but where was Mushu? Where was his baby?

A small squawking noise from the corner answered his question. Cisco rushed over there, Caitlin following after him after making sure that Joe was doing well enough on his own with Iris and Eddie. Cisco crouched down and squinted into the shadows before pulling out his phone and turning on the flashlight option so that he could see where Mushu was being held and how to break him out of it.

Instead, he saw blood and mangled green scales.

Cisco gulped. “Oh, man, Green Bean,” he spoke softly as he opened up the cage-it was a simple sliding bolt, although parts of it looked as if it had been melted and then hastily welded back together again. “He really did a number on you, didn’t he? Don’t worry, he won’t be able to get you again, I promise. It’ll be okay. Here, let’s get you out of that nasty little cage. Come on, I’m sure that your siblings are going to be excited to see you.”

He gently reached for the small green dragonlet, vaguely aware that he was babbling. Mushu tried to pull his wings away from Cisco’s hands and yelped in pain as they touched the bars of the cage. More blood dribbled down his wings-or, at least, what was left of them. Beside him, Caitlin closed her eyes for a moment before gathering Mushu quickly up in her arms, ignoring the way that the blood stained her clothing dark red. When the small dragon yelped and twisted, shattered wings flaring out painfully, she shifted him in her arms into a far more comfortable position for him.

Smaug and Vermithrax whimpered (much to Cisco’s silent surprise, seeing as how Vermithrax didn’t  _ whimper) _ and followed close behind the pair-Cisco climbing up the ladder before Caitlin gently handed Mushu up. He cradled the young green dragon in his arms while Caitlin helped Joe and Iris bring Eddie up the ladder. Cisco buried his face into Mushu’s horns. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean for you to get hurt, Green Bean. I’m sorry.”

Smaug stayed down below for a moment longer, looking around. Something glimmered in the corner, and he darted over to it. He picked up the sparkly thing in his mouth and carried it over to Iris, mewling for her attention. She paused in helping her father move Eddie and crouched down to the red dragon’s level. “What is it?”

Smaug dropped a small blue box into her hand. Iris opened it the rest of the way in confusion before letting out a small gasp. She glanced at Eddie over her shoulder before tucking the box in her pocket. Iris looked down at Smaug, who puffed up his chest proudly. She smiled weakly at the young dragon. “Thank you, Smaug.”

He trilled before taking off for the ladder, clambered up it in an ungainly fashion. Once he was at the top, he looked up at his brother, who was still in Cisco’s arms. Smaug’s tail drooped before he shook himself sternly. No, they had gotten Eddie and Mushu back, and that was what mattered the most.

Wasn’t it?

* * *

Snow-Sister carefully wrapped up what was left of Mushu’s wings. He hissed and whimpered in pain but kept still, remembering what had happened the last time that he tried to get away from someone. Besides, this was  _ Snow-Sister. _ She wouldn’t hurt him. She would  _ never  _ hurt him.

Fire-Father rested a hand on Snow-Sister’s shoulder. “Hey. I think I can take it from here. You go help Eddie, okay? His arm is pretty messed up and there’s blood on his torso.”

She nodded silently and crossed the room to where Question-Brother was lying on his back with an IV in his arm. Fire-Father sighed and pulled a bag out of his pocket. The scent that come from the plastic caused Mushu’s ears to prick up, and both him and his siblings all leaned forwards automatically. Fire-Father let out a weak laugh. “Hold on. Sorry, it’s not for everyone,” he apologized to the four dragons milling around his feet. Snow-Sister had forbidden them from joining Mushu on the table so that they wouldn’t get in the way, and they had obeyed-however sullenly. “It’s just for Mushu. Here you go, buddy.”

Fire-Father poured several cat treats into his hand and held them out for the green dragonlet to eat. Vermithrax pulled Saphira back as she tried to jump up onto the table.  _ “No, Saphira-Sister,”  _ he chided.  _ “Don’t do that. Snow-Sister said that we have to stay down here so that Mushu can get better.” _

Saphira let out a small puff of flame.  _ “Fine.”  _ She peered up at her brother.  _ “Mushu-Brother? Are you sure that you’re okay?” _

Mushu shuddered.  _ “I don’t know,”  _ he admitted.  _ “My wings still hurt, although not us much now that Snow-Sister has looked at them.”  _ The dragon blew out a thin plume of flame, ignoring his sibling’s and Fire-Father’s surprised looks.  _ “I don’t even know what Redsparks-Demon really did to them.” _

_ “You didn’t tell us that you could breath fire now!”  _ Saphira chirped excitedly.

Griffin purred.  _ “Good job. That means that Smaug-Brother and I are the only ones who can’t yet.” _

Fire-Father smiled and scratched Mushu’s horns with the hand that wasn’t being licked clean of any remaining cat treat residue. “Nice job, buddy.” He paused for a moment. “Is that why the lock on the cage looked so odd? Because you’d been trying to melt the bars?”

Mushu bobbed his head.  _ “I tried to escape by melting the cage, but then Redsparks-Demon caught me.” _

_ “That’s what happened to your wings,”  _ Smaug realized.  _ “That’s when he hurt them.” _

Mushu dropped his head into Fire-Father’s lap and didn’t reply. The human man rubbed the back of his neck, caressing the base of his spines. “It’s okay,” Fire-Father murmured. He looked over at Question-Brother for a moment to make sure that everything was okay over there before he sighed and looked back down at Mushu. “He can’t hurt you-either of you-anymore.”

Vermithrax snarled in agreement.  _ “And if he ever comes near any of you again,”  _ he promised,  _ “I will tear him limb from limb.” _

_ “I’ll help,”  _ Griffin promised, caramel golden tail lashing from side to side. Vermithrax nodded to his smaller sister approvingly.

“Your vitals are normal,” Snow-Sister informed Question-Brother, “but you’re still dehydrated. The IV should help with that, but drink some fluids and stay off your feet. And I’m going to need to watch those wounds to make sure that they don’t get infected. Okay, Eddie?”

Question-Brother smiled at her tiredly. “Thanks Caitlin.”

There was a crackle of yellow lightning, and Mushu’s muscles automatically tensed. He tried to stand up, but Fire-Father gently rested his hand on top of his trembling head. “It’s okay,” Fire-Father soothed him. “It’s just Barry. He ran off a little bit ago, chasing Wells.”

As Sparks-Brother panted out a greeting to Question-Brother, Mushu watched him warily. He knew that Sparks-Brother wasn’t evil like Redsparks-Demon, but the way that he ran like Redsparks-Demon had… It was just… He didn’t like it. It reminded Mushu too much of being trapped in a tiny cage, watching Question-Brother get hurt as his tattered wings pressed painfully up against the wall of the cage. Sparks-Brother may have been a good human, a  _ brother,  _ but he ran like Redsparks-Demon did. Mushu didn’t like it.

“We found him under that hatch in the Pipeline,” Fire-Father informed him. “Along with Mushu.” He patted the dragon’s head. Mushu purred softly and closed his eyes. Human contact was good. He had missed it while he was trapped.

“I’m so sorry,” Sparks-Brother apologized to Question-Brother. “I-I thought I looked everywhere for you, Eddie.”

Vermithrax nodded.  _ “He did. Twice over.” _

_ “I’m sorry,”  _ Smaug murmured, hopping up beside Mushu despite Snow-Sister’s warning look.  _ “We didn’t think that he would be here, be somewhere so close and so obvious. We’re sorry we didn’t find you sooner.” _

_ “It’s alright,” _ Mushu assured his siblings as the other three sprang up onto the table with him, Smaug, and Fire-Father.  _ “I’m back now, and that’s what matters.” _

“Eddie, why did he take you?” Steel-Friend asked.

Question-Brother sighed and looked down at the floor for a moment before meeting Steel-Friend’s eyes. “I don’t know. He said that we’re… Family. He said his real name is Eobard Thawne.”

Steel-Friend gestured to Fire-Father with a look of surprise. Griffin remembered the human name for Redsparks-Demon from when Fire-Father would have nightmares, and from when they had sent him to sleep and listened to him speak. “Eobard Thawne,” Fire-Father mused. “It’s just like in my dream.”

“Did he say anything else?” Steel-Friend questioned. “I mean, anything that could help us figure out what he’s really after?”

“I-he didn’t say much,” Question-Brother said with a sigh. Mushu tilted his head. That wasn’t true. Redsparks-Demon had said lots of things, most of them about finally going home or threats against Question-Brother or Rain-Sister. “Just kept working on some tube.”

“A tube?” Fire-Father asked nervously. “What did it look like?”

“Metallic. Uh, futuristic.” Question-Brother shrugged before wincing in pain at the movement. “He said it was the key to him getting back everything that was taken from him.”

“The key?” Sparks-Brother squinted his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t understand. What…?”

“Look, I don’t know. I just want to go home.” Question-Brother took a deep breath. “Is that okay?”

Snow-Sister smiled gently and went to pull the tube out of his hand. “Yes. Of course.”

“I’ll make sure that he gets some rest,” Rain-Sister assured her friend.

Muahu raised his head up and trilled loudly to get Question-Brother’s attention. When the man looked over at him in confusion, Mushu dipped his head low and made a small crooning sound.  _ “Thank you for trying to help me, even though you got hurt.” _

Question-Brother looked at the dragon for a minute. “Uh, thank you? You’re welcome? Whatever it is that you said to me.”

Griffin crossed the room in a few long strides and nuzzled Question-Brother.  _ “Thank you for helping our brother.”  _ She purred. _ “I know that you got hurt for it. But thank you.” _

* * *

Caitlin slowly unwrapped the bandages around what remained of Mushu’s leathery wings. Cisco hovered anxiously over her shoulder, watching nervously. Griffin was coiled around his feet, Smaug was sitting neatly beside him, Vermithrax was pacing slowly back and forth, and Saphira was up on the table next to her brother. Caitlin sighed as she took in the damage.

The webbing in between the metacarpals and the phalanges was torn nearly entirely to shreds. Or at least, what wasn’t outright missing was torn to shreds, so only the webbing in the middle and towards the humerus and the ulna. The bones themselves were twisted and some of them were poking up  _ through  _ the dragon’s green scales. Cisco made a small sound of horror and disgust.

“It was almost better when it was covered with blood,” he muttered queasily.

Caitlin swallowed thickly. “Yeah. Hey, get you get me some more bandages? You know where they are, right?”

Cisco nodded quickly and crouched down, reaching around her legs and opening a cupboard. He pulled out some gauze bandages and handed them to his best friend. “Here you go.”

She rewrapped the dragon’s wings, jaw clenching slightly whenever he whimpered in pain. She’d worked on her friends before, patching them up. She could do this no problem. The fixing-somebody-up part, that is. The other thing… That one was going to be a little bit harder.

When Caitlin was done making the splints, she looked at Cisco carefully. “Cisco?”

The engineer looked at her. “Yeah?”

She put a hand on his arm. “You know that it isn’t going to heal properly, right? The bones are too badly damaged. And even if they do heal, the webbing won’t. He’ll never be able to fly, and the wings will probably ache for the rest of his life, however long that may be.”

Cisco paled. “Tha-that’s not true. He’ll be fine. He  _ has  _ to be fine, Caitlin.”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Cisco.”

Her best friend gaped at her for a moment before sitting down beside Mushu. The dragon clambered up into his lap and nuzzled underneath his chin. Cisco stroked the back of his scaly green neck. “Hey, Green Bean,” he murmured gently. “I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. I didn’t mean for you to-” Cisco cut himself off. “I’m sorry.”

Caitlin sighed. She had no idea if the dragons could understand them or not, but they certainly seemed to at times. And they were definitely intelligent. Saphira absolutely seemed to understand her much better than most humans that she had ever met-excluding Ronnie and Cisco, of course. But this… How were they supposed to make Mushu understand this? Understand that he would  _ never _ be able to fly, that he might be in low levels of pain for the rest of his life? They didn’t even know how long dragons lived; it might very well have been for hundreds of years. Caitlin sighed again.

She’d patched up her fiance after small accidents doing domestic tasks or when something went wrong while he was helping with the particle accelerator. She’d watched over someone in a coma for nine months while grieving his death. She’d pulled razor-sharp spines out of her friend’s flesh and done an open biopsy on him while he was still conscious (although that had quickly changed). She’d seen dead bodies that had just been killed. She’d treated people for injured ribs and rescued a kidnapping victim. She was Caitlin Snow. She’d stood up to super criminals wielding flamethrowers and cold guns.

This should not have been nearly as hard as it was.

The dragons that were still on the floor jumped up onto the table to join their injured brother and healthy sister. Vermithrax licked his brother’s horns, while Smaug and Saphira carefully curled up around both him and Cisco. Griffin squeezed into Cisco’s lap beside Mushu, obviously being extra gentle and careful about his injured wings. The five dragons and one human stayed like that, all of the dragonlets except for Mushu purring softly to each other.

Caitlin bit her lip. The woman suddenly felt as if she were intruding on something private. She stood there for a moment longer before turning around and hurrying off. She could find something to busy herself with while they waited for Joe and Barry to get back. Besides, Cisco wouldn’t be able to stay sitting like that forever. He still had to modify whatever they were using to transport the metahumans to Ferris Airfield so that they wouldn’t be able to escape.

But, Caitlin decided, that could wait. She wasn’t going to interrupt him.

* * *

“Are you out of your mind?” Steel-Friend glared at Sparks-Brother. “What do you  _ mean  _ you talked to Leonard Snart?”

“I asked him for help,” Sparks-Brother admitted. Saphira looked up from the strange pieces of machinery that Snow-Sister and Fire-Father were working on. She recognized that name, or at least a part of it.

“Barry, why would you do something so stupid?” Steel-Friend was furious.

“Because, Joe, we have already tried everyone else,” Sparks-Brother explained in an impatient whisper. “Look, you tried the CCPD. I tried Oliver. I even tried Ronnie and Dr. Stein. I mean, the particle accelerator goes online in-” He cut himself off and looked over at Fire-Father and Snow-Sister.

Fire-Father answered without turning around to face Sparks-Brother and Steel-Friend. “Sixteen hours.”

“-Sixteen hours, Joe!” Sparks-Brother continued a though he had never paused. “I’m not willing to let the metas die and we can’t let them escape either. So, like it or not, Snart with his cold gun is the only one that can stop them if Cisco’s transportation does not hold.”

Saphira smelled a familiar sour scent mixed with a similar coldness to the smell that clung to Snow-Sister. But where Snow-Sister’s had sweet undertones and also smelled like the comfort of home, this one just smelled dank and damp and moist. Like something slithering around in the darkness. Her hackles raised and she bared her teeth, placing herself firmly in front of Mushu as the carrier of the scent spoke.

“Then lucky for you,” Iceshard-Enemy drawled, unconcerned with what Steel-Friend was pointing at him, “I figured out what it is you can get me.” He paused and looked at Steel-Friend. “Hello, Detective. Nice to see you again.” Then his gaze shifted over to Snow-Sister and Fire-Father. “Caitlin.” Iceshard-Enemy smirked. “Cisco.”

_ “Iceshard-Enemy,”  _ Saphira snarled angrily.  _ “What are you doing here?” _

Iceshard-Enemy looked at her and her siblings, narrowing his eyes. “You didn’t tell me that you had more of them, Cisco,” he said thoughtfully. Fire-Father’s muscles tensed and his breath quickened. Snow-Sister set her hand on his shoulder and rubbed it comfortingly.“I might just have to change my mind about agreeing to your proposal. Or at the very least add to it.”

“Not gonna happen,” Sparks-Brother said firmly. “They don’t belong to you, and they aren’t property anyways.”

Iceshard-Enemy cocked his head. “A man can dream, can’t he?” When there was no reply, he took a few more steps forwards, none too subtly checking the room for threats. “You want my help, here’s what I want; my fingerprints, dental records, DNA, criminal records, family tree, everything there is in this world concerning Leonard Snart-I want it destroyed. All of it. At CCPD, online, everywhere.”

Vermithrax snarled and took a few steps forwards before Fire-Father clicked his tongue and shook his head. “No, Vermithrax,” he whispered quietly. “I don’t want you getting hurt too.”

“The brass on this dude,” Steel-Friend muttered disapprovingly. He eyed Iceshard-Enemy disapprovingly. “You really think we’d do that for you?”

After a short heartbeat of silence, Sparks-Brother’s voice broke through the silence. “I’ll do it. If it’s the only way, fine.”

Steel-Friend’s head snapped around and he grabbed Sparks-Brother’s shoulder. Saphira’s muscles tensed as he spoke. “You and me need to talk, right now.”

Sparks-Brother nodded to Iceshard-Enemy and walked around him, following after Steel-Friend out into the hallway. Iceshard-Enemy watched them go with a triumphant look on his face. As soon as both humans were gone, he looked directly at Fire-Father. “So, Cisco,” he began in a way that made Saphira’s scales crawl. “You didn’t tell me that you had”-he glanced around and did a quick count under his breath-“four more of your unusual pets. You’ve been holding out on me.”

Vermithrax raked his claws across the floor as Saphira quailed back. Would Iceshard-Enemy try to take her away again? Last time he had hurt Fire-Father with his fists (although it had actually mostly been Blistering-Enemy that did that, but whatever) and Music-Friend with his bad ice weapon. Which he still had-she could see it clipped to his hip.

A new thought occurred to the small blue dragonlet and she stiffened. Griffin was smaller than she was, the smallest out of all of them, and Mushu was injured so he wouldn’t be able to fight back. What if he tried to hurt or take away one of them? She  _ had  _ to protect her siblings!  _ “Griffin-Sister, Mushu-Brother,” _ she called, tail flicking. Her wings flared open slightly when Iceshard-Enemy looked at her. She glared back at him, hoping that she looked suitably brave.  _ “Come over here.”  _ When they arrived, she ducked underneath a table to curl behind Fire-Father’s legs.  _ “Don’t go near Iceshard-Enemy. He’s the one who took me and Fire-Father away, remember? We have to protect him! But I don’t want you two to get hurt.” _

_ “I’m not a baby,” _ Griffin sulked.

_ “And I’m not useless,”  _ Mushu added.  _ “Just because I’m injured, just because I’ll never be able to fly-that doesn’t mean that I can’t fight back if he tries to take me.” _

Saphira shuddered as Iceshard-Enemy’s frigid gaze swept over her once again.  _ “That isn’t what I meant. I’m just… Worried. If he takes one of you, so soon after we got you back, Mushu…” _

Her brother nuzzled her.  _ “It’s okay. I understand. But right now we need to focus on finding Redsparks-Demon and making sure that nothing happens to Fire-Father now that Iceshard-Enemy is here.” _

Griffin nodded, tail curling.  _ “Agreed, Mushu-Brother.”  _ Her upper lip curled.  _ “He cannot take you or Fire-Father ever again.” _

_ “Never again,”  _ Vermithrax growled, coming up behind them. He looked at them solemnly.  _ “He will  _ never  _ take either of you away again.” _

That was when Sparks-Brother and Steel-Friend walked back in. Steel-Friend was glaring at Sparks-Brother, who was pointedly avoiding looking back over at him. Sparks-Brother sighed and crossed his arms. “All right, Snart. I agree to your terms. As long as you don’t even  _ think _ about trying to take Cisco, Caitlin, or any of the dragons. Got it?”

“Clear as a crystal,” Iceshard-Enemy smirked at Sparks-Brother. He scowled.

“I mean it, Snart. If you try  _ anything…” _ Sparks-Brother let the threat hang in the air. Iceshard-Enemy crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Sparks-Brother.

“Are we going to stand around and talk all night are you going to get moving, Scarlet?” Iceshard-Enemy sneered. “We need to move your little prisoners soon, don’t we?”

Sparks-Brother gritted his teeth, and in a flicker of yellow sparks, he was wearing the red outfit once again. Fire-Father cleared his throat. “Hey, man, can I talk to you for just a minute? It’ll only take like two seconds, I promise.”

Sparks-Brother nodded and walked over to him at a normal human speed. The dragonlets all looked at each other and padded after the pair of human men. Fire-Father ran a hand through his hair and looked at Iceshard-Enemy anxiously before turning back to his friend. “Why did you ask  _ him _ for help? Out of anybody that you could have asked, why did you ask him?”

Sparks-Brother sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. “Cisco, I’m really, really sorry. I wouldn’t do it if we didn’t have no other options. But there’s nobody else-I tried Oliver, Ronnie and Professor Stein, that guy that I met in Metropolis-Clark, Bruce, that one kid from El Paso with the scarab armor, everyone! No one else has the skills required to recapture the metahumans without causing a major incident if they end up escaping.”

“I know,” Fire-Father sighed. He bit his lower lip. “But  _ him?” _

“I won’t let him take you or one of the dragons again,” Sparks-Brother said sincerely. “If he tries, I’ll make him get on that plane to Lian Yu along with the metas.”

Fire-Father smiled weakly as Iceshard-Enemy called across the room, “Are you going to head out on your own now, Sparky, or do I have to drag you out with the cold gun to your head?”

Sparks-Brother rolled his eyes. “I’m going, Snart. There’s no need to whine like a little kid.”

He sped out of the room, Iceshard-Enemy following behind at a normal pace that actually seemed to be on the slower side. Steel-Friend watched him go with narrowed eyes. He looked at Fire-Father once they were both gone. “Just so you know,” Steel-Friend told him, “I warned Barry not to do this. And for whatever reason that he  _ is _ doing it, he won’t let you-any of you-get hurt by him again.”

Fire-Father nodded shakily as he crouched down to stroke Saphira’s wings and Mushu’s horns. Then he stood right back up, moving back over to the table and glancing at Snow-Sister. He stuck out his jaw and gritted his teeth. “Right. Caitlin, let’s get back to work on the power dampener.”

* * *

“Please tell me this is a joke,” Snow-Sister muttered. Saphira hissed in agreement, eyeing Golden-Enemy distrustfully. At least it was only Iceshard-Enemy and Golden-Enemy, seeing as how Blistering-Enemy wasn’t with them.

“Oh,” Golden-Enemy crooned. “You were right, Lenny. She  _ is _ very uptight.”

Snow-Sister bristled. “I am  _ not  _ uptight.” Sparks-Brother and Fire-Father looked at her doubtfully, and Sparks-Brother opened his mouth to say something before realizing that that probably wasn’t the best course of action. Snow-Sister scowled and glared at Golden-Enemy.  _ “You  _ can’t call me uptight.”

Sparks-Brother sighed. “Look, guys, we need their help if we’re gonna pull this off.”

“Why are you wearing your mask?” Snow-Sister asked him. “Snart and his sister already know who you are.”

“True, but I only know that his name is Barry Allen,” Golden-Enemy said with a small shrug. “And I couldn’t be bothered to look him up. So I have no idea what he looks like, and Lenny refuses to tell me. Or even give me a little hint.” She batted her eyes at him. “Jerk.”

“Train wreck,” Iceshard-Enemy retorted. Then he looked back at Steel-Friend, Fire-Father, and Snow-Sister. “Don’t look so surprised, detective. I am a man of my word.”

“Yeah, you’d better be. Or we’ll make sure that you’re on that damn plane too,” Steel-Friend growled. Vermithrax growled in agreement with the human man. “Or I’ll just let the dragonlets have you. It depends. I might even put what’s left of you after they’re done on the plane as well, just to make sure that you never come back.”

The group of humans split apart, all of the dragons going their separate ways as well (Smaug with Sparks-Brother, Griffin with Snow-Sister, Mushu and Saphira with Fire-Father, and Vermithrax with Steel-Friend). Golden-Enemy, however, followed Fire-Father, much to Saphira’s dismay.

“Hey, Cisco,” she greeted, smiling and fluttering her eyelashes. Saphira and Mushu both hissed loudly at her.

Fire-Father turned around. “Oh, hey, Captain Cold’s evil sister.”

“Oh,” Golden-Enemy pouted. “You’re not still mad at me, are you? I really did enjoy kissing you.”

Snow-Sister spun around in her chair, eyes wide. “You kissed her?!”

Fire-Father lifted his hand, not breaking eye contact with Golden-Enemy. “Under duress, calm down.”

Snow-Sister blinked a few times and then turned back to her computer as Golden-Enemy smiled sweetly. “You know, I’ve thought a lot about you.”

Fire-Father narrowed his eyes and looked her up and down. “Have you really?” He asked in the way that meant he really didn’t care what her answer was. Saphira huffed in approval. When Golden-Enemy nodded, he sighed. “Well, stop. Because this, right here”-he gestured to the two of them while taking a few steps closer to Golden-Enemy-“it ain’t gonna happen.”

Golden-Enemy leaned forwards until her forehead was practically touching Fire-Father’s. Her voice dropped down to a whisper. “A girl can hope.”

When she walked away, Saphira blew out a puff of fire and smoke. She wished that Golden-Enemy would leave them alone. Fire-Father obviously didn’t like her, so why couldn’t she just back off? Humans were weird. Sometimes they seemed to think that “no” meant “yes” or the other way around. Usually it was like that, though. They should have been more like dragons.

Snow-Sister gave Fire-Father a weird look, and he sighed. “Really not enjoying being one of the good guys this week.” He glanced over his shoulder in the direction that Golden-Enemy had walked away.  _ “Really _ not.”

“Hey, dude,” Sparks-Brother called to Fire-Father, walking over at normal human speeds to stand beside him. “Have you figured out a way for us to get the metahumans to the airport yet?”

Fire-Father smiled at him. “I have, actually.” He looked up and grinned even wider. “And it’s pretty dope.”

Saphira purred softly when she saw that he was happy again. Hopefully it would last.

* * *

Saphira sat at Fire-Father’s feet, Mushu above her in his lap. Vermithrax was beside her, and both Griffin and Smaug were with Steel-Friend in his own car. Saphira and Vermithrax had insisted on accompanying Fire-Father because he had been chosen to sit beside Golden-Enemy, whom Saphira still did not trust and doubted that she ever would. After a few minutes of driving in awkward silence, Golden-Enemy spoke up.

“You didn’t tell us that you had more than one of your creatures,” she began, not taking her eyes off of the road in front of her.

Saphira hissed softly as Fire-Father replied. “Funny,” he said dryly, “your brother said almost exactly the same thing.”

Golden-Enemy shrugged. Saphira had never known that it was possible for someone to shrug gracefully until she saw Golden-Enemy do it. “It comes with being close siblings. Sometimes we’re on the same wavelength.”

“Yeah,” Fire-Father scoffed. Vermithrax growled in approval. “The same evil, stealing, kidnapping, manipulative wavelength.”

“Aw, so you  _ are _ still mad.” Golden-Enemy frowned. Mushu bared his teeth at her. He may not have been very threatening with his wings all bandaged the way that they were, but he was still a dragon, and a decently sized one at that. Even if he was still very young.

“Gee, I wonder why,” Fire-Father bit out. “I mean, it’s not like you kidnapped me and one of my dragon babies, pretended to actually like me, and then tortured my brother until I gave up the secret identity of one of my best friends. Oh wait…”

Golden-Enemy tilted her head and glanced at him as the car came to a stop-Saphira couldn’t see why. From the small shout of annoyance that came from outside, she guessed that someone (probably Iceshard-Enemy or Sparks-Brother) wasn’t at all happy about the slight interruption. Fire-Father leaned away as Golden-Enemy moved slightly towards him. She smiled at him like a pleased cat. “Oh, Cisco,” she murmured, “who said anything about  _ pretending  _ to like you?”

Fire-Father pushed her away before she could get too close, Mushu swatting at her hand. His claws hardly grazed her, and Golden-Enemy’s satisfied grin faded. Fire-Father scowled at her. “Back off, Snart.”

“Fine,  _ Ramon,” _ Golden-Enemy replied, placing emphasis on the name. Fire-Father winced as he petted Mushu’s ears and horns. She sat back in her seat as the truck started to move again. Golden-Enemy glanced quickly down at Saphira before looking over once again at the road in front of her. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. “You know, we wouldn’t have hurt your little pet-Saphira, right? Or at least  _ I _ wouldn’t’ve. I can’t really make any guarantees about whether or not Lenny or Mick would do something to her.”

Fire-Father clenched his fists before taking a deep breath and relaxing once again. “Yeah, well… If I don’t believe you, I’m sure that you understand why.”

Golden-Enemy nodded. For the first time, she actually seemed sincere, like she wasn’t putting on a honeyed mask. “I know.” She paused for a moment. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t want to kidnap you after getting to know you in that bar.” Golden-Enemy smirked. “And I would have absolutely  _ loved  _ to get to know you even more before my brother gave me the signal.”

Just like that, the mask was back. Saphira shook her head disapprovingly.  _ “She could be a very good human if she actually tried to be.” _

_ “Agreed, Saphira-Sister,”  _ Vermithrax growled quietly.  _ “But she is a bad human. And you cannot forget that.” _

Mushu peered down at them both with his upper lip curled slightly in a mixture of amusement and something else that Saphira couldn’t identify.  _ “Of course she remembers, Vermithrax-Brother. Do not forget who took both her and Fire-Father last time.” _

_ “I haven’t,” _ Vermithrax snarled. His tail flicked out and accidentally whacked Saphira’s flank. She arched her back at him.

Fire-Father gently separated them with his feet. “Hey, you two. Don’t fight while we’re in the car. My uncle will kill me if I mess up anything in here.” He paused. “Although he’d also kill me if he knew that we were using his truck to transfer dangerous metahuman criminals to a mostly-illegal plane bound for a military black site on a remote island in the North China sea.”

Golden-Enemy half-smiled. “So that’s where you’re taking them,” she whispered under her breath. Saphira had to strain her ears in order to hear the human woman. “Good to know.”

Fire-Father peeked out the window. “We’re almost to Ferris Airfield,” he noted. Then he frowned. “Hey, what are you getting out of this? I was there when your brother made a deal with Bar-with the Flash, but you weren’t. So what are you getting out of the deal?”

“What, isn’t the knowledge that I’ve done something good in my life enough?” Golden-Enemy teased. When Fire-Father looked at her blankly, she shook her head and smirked. “Maybe I just wanted to see you again, Cisco.”

Fire-Father scoffed at her as they pulled up to a stop. Golden-Enemy stared straight ahead at the group in front of them out the window (which only Mushu could see out of the trio of dragonlets) as she asked Fire-Father a question. “How come you haven’t given  _ me  _ a code name? I heard you came up with Captain Cold. What do you think I should be called?”

Fire-Father thought for a moment. “Female inmate?”

“Oh, come on,” Golden-Enemy coaxed. “You made my gun, the least you can do is give me a badass alias.” When he still didn’t reply, she added even more sugar to her voice and fluttered her eyelashes. “Please?”

“Fine,” Fire-Father sighed. He thought for a moment, stroking Mushu’s head absentmindedly. “Golden Glider.”

Golden-Enemy smiled venomously. “Smart is sexy, Cisco.”

Fire-Father looked down at the dragon in his lap so that she wouldn’t be able to see his smile. Saphira, Mushu, and Vermithrax all could, however, and they definitely did  _ not  _ like it.

Suddenly, something in Fire-Father’s pocket started beeping. His smile quickly faded into a frown of worry as he pulled it out of his pocket. He stared at it for a second with horror growing in his eyes. Reaching down with one hand to unbuckle his seatbelt, he used the other to carefully set Mushu at his feet beside Saphira and Vermithrax. “Oh no.”

“What’s wrong?” Golden-Enemy asked, eyes flickering down to study Mushu for a split second before moving back up again.

“That’s not good,” Fire-Father gasped, opening the door and jumping out. Saphira, Vermithrax, and Mushu all followed him, looking at each other nervously.

_ “What do you think is wrong?”  _ Saphira mewed nervously.

Vermithrax snapped his teeth angrily. _ “Iceshard-Enemy and Golden-Enemy must have done something bad to make Fire-Father so upset. We have to make them pay for it!” _

_ “Calm down,”  _ Mushu murmured, although he was jumping at shadows and looking around nervously.  _ “It might not be that bad.” _

Fire-Father made it to Sparks-Brother, Snow-Sster, Steel-Friend, Griffin, Smaug, and Iceshard-Enemy just before the dragons did. They halted just in time to hear him say, “The rig’s losing power, I don’t know why!”

Sparks-Brother’s eyes widened. “Can you do something?”

“I’m trying!” Fire-Father tapped frantically on the small screen that he seemed to always be carrying with him.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and Snow-Sister looked up as lightning flashed once more across the dark cloudy sky. She stared at the flying thing in the sky (was it like a fake dragon made out of metal? Or a fake bird?) in horror. “Oh god.”

Steel-Friend gritted his teeth. “Mardon.”

Griffin hissed quietly and then turned to Vermithrax.  _ “Did you see Golden-Enemy do anything while you were with her?” _

_ “No,”  _ he growled back,  _ “but it had to be her. Or Iceshard-Enemy. Or both, most likely.” _

_ “Should we attack?”  _ Smaug asked.

_ “Not yet,”  _ Saphira decided.  _ “We should wait to see what happens and then strike at the best opportunity.” _

_ “Agreed,”  _ Mushu sighed. His tail curled as scents that were only familiar when they were muted reached his nostrils.

“Trip’s cancelled!” Stormy-Enemy shouted, tempests swirling around his hands.

“Take your last breath,” Mist-Enemy hissed, melting into the green smog that had caused the dragons to give him his name. Everything erupted into noise and chaos, and all five of the dragons ducked for cover. Even Vermithrax understood that now wasn’t the time to charge senselessly off into battle. But he still needed to protect Fire-Father-and Griffin, and Mushu, and all of his siblings. Not just from the new humans who seemed intent on killing them, but also from Iceshard-Enemy and Golden-Enemy, who may have been traitors.

That was when Snow-Sister lunged for Fire-Father.

Saphira screeched in surprise and lept backwards, loathe to attack the human woman that she had grown so fond of. Steel-Friend was the one to wrap his hands around her waist and pull her backwards towards him. Fire-Father stared at the thrashing woman in shock as she kept screaming at him. “You killed Ronnie!” Snow-Sister sobbed. “You locked him down in the Pipeline and-you killed Ronnie!”

That was when Saphira, Vermithrax, Smaug, and Griffin noticed that Mushu was gone, and their minds went into panic mode. Saphira bristled and spun around, the falling rain making it hard for her nose to catch her missing brother’s scent. Until, after what seemed like a long time but was actually only a few seconds, she spotted him backed against what looked like a white barrel, Golden-Enemy pointing her weapon right at him.

She attacked with a snarl.

Sinking her teeth into Golden-Enemy’s hand as soon as she had crossed the short distance to her and Mushu, Saphira raked her claws across the human woman’s upper arm. Golden-Enemy hissed in pain and shock and threw her arm out, sending Saphira tumbling. By that time, Vermithrax, Smaug, and Griffin had all arrived. Golden-Enemy took one look at the four snarling dragons advancing slowly towards her and scowled. She pointed her weapon at them, and Saphira remembered how she had tested it out when both she and Fire-Father had been kidnapped.

So before Golden-Enemy could fire, Saphira opened her mouth and spat flame.

It caught the woman’s jacket on fire, making her rip it off and stomp on it. While Golden-Enemy was distracted, Vermithrax and Smaug lunged forwards to grab Mushu and pull him to safety. Golden-Enemy watched them leave with anger in her eyes as she extinguished the fire, but didn’t make another move to come after them. Saphira was grateful for that.

They formed a protective ring around a protesting Mushu. Every shadow could have been a threat to their brother. And they would not let him be hurt by anyone ever again. Not Golden-Enemy and Iceshard-Enemy, and especially not Redsparks-Demon.

* * *

Cisco sat in front of the console in the Cortex, the dragonlets all around him. He rubbed his chin and closed his eyes, trying to block out the little voice in his head that whispered that Caitlin blamed him for what had happened to Ronnie, that he had failed to protect the people (and dragons) that he cared about, that none of them cared about him in return. The one that murmured that if it really had been Wells (or Thawne or  _ whatever _ his name really was) when they had tried to get him to confess, Barry would have let him die.

That, to his friends, he didn’t matter.

Cisco heard footsteps behind him but didn’t turn around to look. He was pretty sure that he knew why they were coming, anyways. “I know that I messed up,” Cisco began, “but I  _ swear  _ I checked the data and the measurements for the metahuman transport eight times. It shouldn’t have failed. Which isn’t an excuse, because I  _ know _ that I should have checked again before we left to make sure that the Snart siblings didn’t do anything to it, but-”

“Cisco?” Barry’s voice interrupted him, sounding confused. “I wasn’t coming over her to chew you out. It’s not your fault that the metahumans escaped. At least they aren’t dead in the Pipeline. You did good.”

Cisco shook his head. “No! I didn’t! I let myself get distracted by Lisa  _ again, _ and I almost got you killed and Mushu taken! I-” Barry sat down beside him and wordlessly pulled out what looked like a crumpled napkin. Cisco’s words died in his throat as he took it and looked at it in confusion. “What is this?”

“Just open it,” Barry urged him.

Cisco uncrumpled the napkin and smoothed it out, squinting own at the words written in sloppy penmanship on the thin paper. “‘Cisco Ramon and his dragon’,” he read aloud off of it. He looked back up at Barry. “I don’t get it.”

“Snart,” Barry sighed. “Before asking me to delete all traces of his existence”-his jaw tightened-“he wrote down what he wanted on a napkin and then gave it to me.”

Cisco swallowed. “He wanted… Me. And Saphira.”

Barry nodded. “Yeah. But I told him no. There’s no way that I would give you or Saphira to him.”

“Oh.” Cisco’s fingers clenched around the napkin and crinkled its edges even more. “I-oh.” He paused for a moment. “Why would he want me? I already to-told him your identity, and fixed his gun. And why Saphira?”

“He probably wanted you to build more weapons for him,” Barry guessed with a shrug. “Maybe make you tell him about my weaknesses or make you help out on heists. Saphira… She’d be useful to him. She was the only dragon that he knew existed before the other night.”

“I guess.” Cisco crumpled up the paper and stuck it in his pocket. His shoulders slumped. “Thanks for not selling me out, I guess.”

Barry awkwardly squeezed him in a one-armed side hug. “Of course, man. I’m not going to let Snart take you, not ever again.”

Cisco closed his eyes and leaned against him. For a moment he was silent, and then he voiced one of his fears. “Do you think Caitlin blames me for what happened to Ronnie? If I hadn’t locked him down in the Pipeline, he wouldn’t be on the run from the government while fused with Professor Stein.”

“She doesn’t,” Barry promised him. “I said a lot of things that I didn’t mean when Bivolo whammied me last time when Oliver was here. I know how she feels-like every negative thing that you’ve ever felt is suddenly building up again inside of your head and your heart, and if you don’t let it all out than you’ll explode. But then when you do, it just hurts even more, and it keeps going in a really sucky cycle.”

“But that means that she  _ used _ to blame me for what happened,” Cisco pointed out. “Even if she doesn’t anymore.” He sighed bitterly. “Not that I can really get mad at her for it. I mean, it was my fault. I’m the one who screwed up.”

“No, you did everything that you were supposed to.” His friend smiled at him. “If it hadn’t been for you, a lot more people would have injured or killed that night. Or been given powers, and who knows what they would have done with those?”

Cisco smiled back tentatively. “Thanks.” Griffin licked his thumb with her sandpapery tongue and chirped happily. “For not selling me out to Snart, for making me feel better-just… Thanks.”

Barry stood up and clapped him on the back. “Don’t mention it.”

* * *

All five dragons were curled up together around Mushu, watching Snow-Sister and Fire-Father bustle around the main room. Snow-Sister was still avoiding looking at Fire-Father, and Griffin guessed that it was because of the things that she had said when Gloweyes-Enemy (he was an enemy now because he had hurt Snow-Sister and Fire-Father and almost hurt Sparks-Brother and Steel-Friend) had forced her to attack him somehow.

The computer beeped, and Fire-Father spun around with his eyes wide. He leaned forwards and pressed a button before speaking into it. “Guys! The particle accelerator is fully charged and online! Whatever Wells needs it for, it’s ready!”

As soon as Sparks-Brother and Steel-Friend arrived, Griffin untangled herself from the pile of dragon limbs and snuggled up to Fire-Father. He was watching something on the monitor with a troubled expression.

Sparks-Brother was glaring at it too, hands braced on either side of the computer screen. Griffin could smell the anger that came off of him, and she could see the person that it was directed at. A low growl rose up in her throat. Even though she couldn’t properly smell him, she could still clearly see that Redsparks-Demon (while disguised as Dark-Enemy) was standing there.

Steel-Friend looked at Sparks-Brother knowingly. “Barry, don’t even think about it.” When he didn’t reply and just glared even stronger at the screen in front of him, Steel-Friend took a small step forwards. “Bear, no.”

“You can’t go out there by yourself,” Snow-Sister tried to convince him.

Sparks-Brother took a step back and clenched his teeth, eyes shining and expression impossible for the dragons to read. “Yeah, I can.”

Then he was gone.

Griffin kneaded Fire-Father’s sleeve. He would be okay. It would all be okay.

It had to be. It had to be okay.


	11. Fast Enough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY I FORGOT TO UPDATE ON SATURDAY EVERYTHING WAS SUPER HECTIC!
> 
> Uh, warning for self-destructive tendencies, death, and excessive use of italics.

Vermithrax stood in front of the box that held Redsparks-Demon’s unconscious form. His grey scaly tail was wrapped around his paws and his eyes were narrowed, two thin wisps of smoke rising out of his nostrils. Vermithrax’s wings were folded neatly on his back, held close to his spine and flanks. The flexible black spines that ran down the length of his neck and back were bristling out. The dragon’s muscles were tensed. If he needed to, he would attack.

Sparks-Brother was watched him, completely still except for his hands, which were clenched into fists. Steel-Friend stood just behind him. He rested one of his hands on Sparks-Brother’s shoulder. “Bear, he can’t get out of there. You got him. Let it go.”

Smaug, who was standing beside Sparks-Brother, wrapped his tail around Sparks-Brother’s ankle and tugged gently.  _ “Come on,”  _ he coaxed the human.  _ “Come on. You’re too tired.  _ We’ll  _ guard Redsparks-Demon. We won’t let him escape ever again, I promise.” _

_ “If he tries, I’ll rip him apart for what he’s done,”  _ Vermithrax promised Sparks-Brother.  _ “Don’t worry.” _

Sparks-Brother sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He was wearing the red outfit still, but the part that usually covered his face was pulled back. “I can’t-he’s been so many steps ahead of us this entire time. I don’t think that he would just  _ let  _ us capture him like that.”

“It didn’t look like he was  _ letting _ anything happen to me,” Steel-Friend pointed out. “He almost killed Ronnie, Stein, Oliver, and you. That doesn’t seem like ‘letting’.”

“Yeah, he  _ almost  _ killed us,” Sparks-Brother sighed. “He was inches away from killing Oliver, and the only reason that he didn’t is because he stopped to monologue. And he’s smarter than that-Wells knows better than that. But he still did it. Wells-or Thawne, or whatever-could have killed all of us, and he  _ didn’t.  _ Which means that he’s still planning something. He still needs me for something.” Sparks-Brother paused. “I just don’t know what that something is.”

Vermithrax curled his lip.  _ “I don’t need to know what he’s planning to want to rip him to pieces for what he did to Question-Brother and to Mushu-Brother.” _

_ “Agreed,”  _ Smaug meowed, hackles raising as he looked at Redsparks-Demon. He was once more disguised as Dark-Enemy, Fire-Father and Snow-Sister helping Sparks-Brother rip off the strange yellow material that felt almost exactly the same as Sparks-Brother’s red outfit. But where what Sparks-Brother wore was comforting and made him feel almost like a dragon underneath their paws, Redsparks-Demon felt like something otherworldly. Too slick and smooth to get a proper purchase on.  _ “He will never touch them again.” _

Steel-Friend tugged on Sparks-Brother’s arm to pull him away from Redsparks-Demon’s cell. “Come on, Barry. Let’s go have Caitlin patch you up, okay?”

Sparks-Brother nodded reluctantly and let Steel-Friend lead him off down the hallway towards the room where Snow-Sister and Fire-Father were along with the rest of Smaug and Vermithrax’s siblings. Vermithrax and Smaug themselves, however, stayed. They had too keep an eye on Redsparks-Demon to make sure that he didn’t try to do anything.

Smaug tilted his head as he studied Redsparks-Demon.  _ “How do you think he got to be so fast?”  _ He asked Vermithrax. When his brother blinked at him slowly in confusion he elaborated.  _ “I mean, only Sparks-Brother is as fast as he is, and none of the other humans even come close. How come some of the humans can do more things than the others?” _

_ “I don’t know.”  _ Vermithrax kneaded the floor for a moment with his paws before raking his talons across it in frustration.  _ “Humans are strange. They’re always trying to be the top predator. They don’t even like thinking about the possibility that there might be something bigger than them out there.” _

_ “That ‘something’ is usually just another human, isn’t it?”  _ Smaug inquired. He cocked his spiny head to one side.

_ “Yes. That’s what makes them so dangerous.”  _ Vermithrax snapped his jaws open and shut.  _ “They’re always fighting and trying to kill each other. Like animals.” _

_ “You like fighting too, Vermithrax-Brother,”  _ Smaug pointed out mildly. He looked down at Redsparks-Demon disdainfully.  _ “But I understand. Although that doesn’t explain why Redsparks-Demon and Sparks-Brother are so fast, or why Smoke-Friend can disappear, or how Gloweyes-Enemy makes the humans get angry or sad or happy, or anything else.” _

Vermithrax nodded.  _ “Humans are strange and soft. So we have to protect them from bad things.” _

_ “Agreed.”  _ Smaug paused, bristling, when Redsparks-Demon stirred, but when he didn’t move after a few moments the small red dragon relaxed again (or at least partially-he was in front of an enemy, after all).  _ “Especially from Redsparks-Demon. He’s the worst one of them all.” _

Vermithrax turned around when he smelled Fire-Father coming up behind the him. The human man paused a little ways away and clicked his tongue. “Hey, you two. C’mon. Let’s go back to the Cortex. Dr. Stein and Ronnie want to see how big the rest of you guys have gotten.”

Vermithrax kinked his tail before straightening it.  _ “But then who will watch Redsparks-Demon to make sure that he doesn’t escape?” _

“Don’t worry about Wells,” Fire-Father sighed, glancing at the cell uneasily. “If he wakes up, we’ll know.”

Smaug shook himself and followed after Fire-Father as the human started to walk away, whistling for Vermithrax to join them. The grey dragon did so, looking back over his shoulder at the still unconscious Redsparks-Demon. Just as he walked around the corner, Vermithrax thought he saw the speedster’s eyelid twitch. But there was no other movement.

Vermithrax blew smoke out of his nostrils thoughtfully. Soon he would have his revenge on Redsparks-Demon.

* * *

Smaug stood a few steps behind Sparks-Brother. He had been the only dragon to follow the human down to where Redsparks-Demon was being kept after Fire-Father had alerted them to the fact that he was awake and standing. Vermithrax, Mushu, Griffin, and Saphira had all stayed with the rest of the humans, probably watching them over the screens that Fire-Father rarely parted from.

For a long moment, Sparks-Brother and Redsparks-Demon simply stared at each other. Redsparks-Demon spoke first, the corner of his mouth curling up. “What? No Big Belly Burger?” When Sparks-Brother didn’t respond and just kept staring straight ahead at Redsparks-Demon, he continued to speak. “It’s one of the few perks of living in this time. We’re out of cows where I come from.” He took a few steps forwards. “But you don’t care about that. You have questions.”

“I’m not sure where to start,” Sparks-Brother said evenly. Smaug pressed closer to him comfortingly. “Thawne.” Redsparks-Demon stopped pacing, and Sparks-Brother continued. “That is your real name. Eobard Thawne.”

“Since the day I was born,” Redsparks-Demon replied smugly.

“And when was that?” Sparks-Brother asked. Smaug was surprised that his voice was still even.

“One hundred and thirty-six years from now,” Redsparks-Demon answered with a shrug. He looked directly at Sparks-Brother and narrowed his eyes. “That isn’t what you want to know.” He leaned forwards. “Go ahead, Barry. Ask it.”

Sparks-Brother clenched his jaw. “Why did you kill my mother?”

“Because I hate you,” Redsparks-Demon said calmly. “Not you now. You years from now.”

“In the future.” Sparks-Brother whispered.

“In the future, yes.” Redsparks-Demon continued. “We’re enemies, rivals, opposites. Reversals of one another.”

“But why?” Sparks-Brother asked him. “Why were we enemies?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Redsparks-Demon dismissed. “It doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is that neither of us was strong enough to defeat the other.” He paused for a moment. “Until I learned your secret. I learned your name.” He shook his head, voice a loud whisper. “Barry Allen. And  _ finally _ I knew how to defeat you once and for all. Travel back in time, kill you as a child”-he snapped his fingers and Smaug growled-“wipe you from the face of the earth. But then you, future you that is, followed me back and we fought.” Redsparks-Demon closed his eyes. “We both landed some pretty solid shots. And then you, future you, got your younger self out of there. I was so mad.”

Smaug’s hackles raised and he snarled. He could hear the hummingbird heartbeat of Sparks-Brother’s heart through his scales from where he was leaning against the human’s leg.  _ “Stop talking,”  _ he growled to Redsparks-Demon.  _ “Stop talking now.” _

“But then I thought, what if you were to suffer a tragedy?” Redsparks-Demon continued. He obviously hadn’t understood the small dragon. “What if you were to suffer something so horrible, so traumatic, that your child self could never recover? Then you would not become the Flash.” He narrowed his eyes. “So I stabbed your mother in the heart. And I was free. Finally able to return to a future without the Flash. Only to realize that in travelling back… I lost my way home. Lost my ability to harness the speed force. And without it, I was stuck here, stranded in this time, unable to return to my home. And the only one way to get back was the Flash.”

Smaug snarled again.  _ “Stop. Talking.” _

“But the Flash was gone. So I created him.” Redsparks-Demon stopped moving around inside of the box and stared directly at Sparks-Brother, not even sparing a glance at the angry Smaug.

Sparks-Brother braced his hands on the sides of the box and shook his head, eyes closed. “Why train me? Why help me save so many people?”

“Because I need you to get fast,” Redsparks-Demon hissed, leaning forwards. “Fast enough to rupture the space-time barrier and create a stable wormhole through which I could return home.”

Sparks-Brother narrowed his eyes as Redsparks-Demon leaned away. “Why would I  _ ever  _ do that?”

“Because, Barry Allen,” Redsparks-Demon said, smirking at Sparks-Brother, “if you give me what I want, I’m going to give you what you want.” He stopped and levelled his eyes at Sparks-Brother, who’s own hazel eyes went wide. Smaug growled. “You can go back and save your mother. You can prevent your father from going to prison. You can reunite the Allen family.”

Sparks-Brother stared at him for a moment in disbelief before shaking his head. Smaug huffed in agreement with him. “No. No, I don’t believe you.” Redsparks-Demon looked at him and smiled, and then Sparks-Brother slammed his hands against the glass. Smaug bit the hem of his pants and half-heartedly tried to pull him back, but he didn’t really put much effort behind it. He didn’t care if Redsparks-Demon lived or died, but he didn’t want Sparks-Brother to do something that he would regret. “I wanna kill you right now.”

“I know that rage,” Redsparks-Demon murmured, unfazed. “I used to feel that rage every time I looked upon you.” Sparks-Brother’s fists clenched where they were pushed up against the wall of the box. “And now, somehow, I know what Joe and Henry feel when they look on you with pride. With love.”

“No. No.” Sparks-Brother punched the glass and Smaug took a few steps backwards. Sparks-Brother glared at Redsparks-Demon, and Smaug could smell how angry he was. “Don’t you  _ ever  _ say that to me.”

“I know that you’re upset,” Redsparks-Demon whispered gently, stepping forwards. Smaug arched his back and snarled, unable to convey his thoughts with words. “But I’m giving you a chance. I’m giving you a chance to undo all the evil I’ve done. Don’t you want that chance?”

After a long moment, Sparks-Brother stepped back from the cell. He looked down at Smaug but didn’t say anything. He turned and walked away, allowing Smaug to walk beside him before shutting the door. Then he turned around, slumped down to the floor with his back to the wall, and put his head in between his knees, hugging his shoulders.

Smaug tucked himself up close to Sparks-Brother, feeling his shaking. The man shook his head weakly and ran a hand through his hair. “I  _ can’t. _ ” He whispered. “I can’t. I can’t do this. I can’t.”

Smaug pressed his scaly muzzle against Sparks-Brother’s ribs, the thrumming heartbeat that was so much faster than Fire-Father’s beating even stronger now.  _ “It’s alright,”  _ he purred softly.  _ “It’s okay.  I’m right here. Redsparks-Demon can’t do anything to you now.” _

“I can’t help him. But I have to save my mother. I can’t help him, but I have to save my mother.” Sparks-Brother was still trembling, his breath coming in quick little gasps. “I just-I  _ can’t. _ If I help him… But I  _ have  _ to. I’m stuck.” His words started blending together as he spoke faster and faster, lips and mouth blurring. “I’mstuckandIcan’tdoanythingandifItrythenI’moneofthebadguysbutifIdothannothingwillchange-”

_ “No,”  _ Smaug mewed firmly, pressing his nose against Sparks-Brother’s forehead.  _ “Stop that. You’re not a bad human. You’re a good one. I promise. You’re okay. We’re all okay.” _

The speedster made a small hiccuping sound and gripped his hair. “It’s okay,” he muttered to himself. “I’m okay. I’m a hero. They can’t see me like this. So I have to be okay.”

The red dragon beside him made a quiet wailing sound.  _ “No! That isn’t right! I mean-” _ Smaug paused for a moment and thumped his tail against the ground in frustration. _ “You’re going to be okay, but not because you can’t show the other humans that you’re not. You’ll be okay because nothing bad will happen. We’ll make sure of it.” _

* * *

Saphira nudged Smaug gently.  _ “What happened with Redsparks-Demon and Sparks-Brother? The humans wouldn’t let us see.” _

_ “Later,”  _ Smaug promised his sister.  _ “I’ll explain everything to you later.” _

“A chance to be with someone you love?” Snow-Sister murmured thoughtfully. Flames-Brother, who had returned with Grey-Friend somehow after Burning-Friend disappeared in a bright yellow and orange light, wrapped his arm around her and hel her close to him. “Seems pretty cut-and-dry to me.”

“At first blush, Dr. Snow, it would appear so,” Grey-Friend acknowledged. Snow-Sister nodded as he continued. “But this gift has an unparalleled risk. Barry, the night your mother died, the night you saved  _ yourself _ from being killed, that event altered the timeline you were already on, and changed the course of history.”

Fire-Father blinked in disbelief as Griffin nibbled on his earlobe. “So, what you’re saying is we’re living in a parallel universe?”

“Just like when I time travelled before,” Sparks-Brother sighed. Smaug stretched out one of his wings and let the tip brush the human’s leg. Sparks-Brother didn’t even look down at him, his face like stone.

“But… You only changed  _ one day _ that time,” Steel-Friend pointed out.

“Yes, exactly,” Grey-Friend replied excitedly. “Now imagine fifteen years of compounded experiences. One different decision, no matter how big or small, impacts everything that follows. Moments upon moments, choices upon choices, new relationships. Nothing would be as it is today, and you’d never know the difference because you’d never remember any of it.”

Sparks-Brother sat down and gathered Smaug up onto his lap. The dragon hummed, trying to help his human friend stay calm. “So if I go back and save my mom, my dad doesn’t go to prison.” Grey-Friend nodded. “I never live with Joe and Iris.”

“You might never meet me or Caitlin or Ronnie,” Fire-Father realized. Griffin chirped and buried her face in his long dark hair. She was perched on a table behind him, too big now to fit on his shoulders without causing both of them major discomfort.

“Truth is,” Grey-Friend sighed, “there’s no  _ real _ way of knowing what your life will be.”

There was a long, solemn pause before Steel-Friend spoke. “There’s no choice here, Barry. You have to do this.” Sparks-Brother stared at him in surprise. “You gotta change the past.”

Steel-Friend grabbed his jacket and turned around, walking away out of the room. Sparks-Brother opened his mouth as if to speak before closing it and following after Steel-Friend. Smaug moved to go after them, but Mushu tugged him backwards by his tail. Griffin jumped down to join them as Vermithrax and Saphira padded over to stand/sit beside them.  _ “No. You said that you would tell us what happened with Sparks-Brother and Redsparks-Demon when you went down to The Loop together to see what Redsparks-Demon would do now that he was awake.” _

Smaug nodded reluctantly.  _ “Redsparks-Demon taunted Sparks-Brother. Told him that he was proud of him.” _

_ “What else?”  _ Vermithrax asked his brother as Smaug stayed silent.  _ “There must have been something.” _

_ “Sparks-Brother got angry,”  _ Smaug admitted.  _ “Very, very angry. And scared, too. He’s trying to stay strong for the other humans-and for us, too, I think-but he can’t anymore. I think that that scares him just as much as Redsparks-Demon does, the idea that he can’t protect us or them from danger.” _

Griffin wrapped her tail around her paws and pricked her ears.  _ “We can protect ourselves. Usually.” _

Smaug closed his eyes for a moment.  _ “But that doesn’t stop him from being scared. The humans don’t know what we can and can’t do. And not every human is as fast as Fire-Father is. Or as fast as Redsparks-Demon. He can’t protect them from everything, and he knows that.” _

_ “We can protect the humans from all of the things that he can’t,”  _ Vermithrax mewed quietly.  _ “If he ever needs our help, if Fire-Father and Snow-Sister ever need our help, then we will be there. Ready to fight for them.” _

_ “But we can’t tell Sparks-Brother, Snow-Sister, and Fire-Father that,”  _ Saphira pointed out to her siblings.  _ “The humans don’t understand us.” _

Mushu shivered, the motion running down the length of his spine. He curled his lip up.  _ “Then we’ll  _ make _ them understand. I do not want any of you or any of the humans to be caught by Redsparks-Demon the same way that I was.” _

There was silence in between them for a moment before Griffin spoke up softly.  _ “You never told us what Redsparks-Demon did down there, Mushu-Brother. What happened to your wings and what happened to Question-Brother.” _

_ “It doesn’t matter,”  _ Mushu growled.  _ “We’re back now, and that’s what’s important. Now that Redsparks-Demon has been captured, he won’t be able to take me, Question-Brother, or any of you away ever again.” _

He turned and bounded away, loping off to stand at Flames-Brother’s side. The man awkwardly bent down to scratch the green dragon’s spines, trying to keep his arm wrapped around Snow-Sister the entire time (it didn’t really work out that well for him and he ended up having to reluctantly let go). “Hey, buddy. How’s it going?”

Snow-Sister smiled and crouched down beside her mate so that he could keep physical contact with her. She stroked Mushu’s tail gently. “I should probably change your bandages soon. The bleeding has probably already been staunched by them for a while now.”

The human woman scooped him up carefully and rose back up to her feet. Flames-Brother stood up as well, pressing his lips to his mate’s cheek. “Come on, Cait. While you’re there, you can give me a checkup too. See how I’ve been faring as a backseat driver in my own body.”

“Still bitter about that, I see,” Grey-Friend sighed, although he sounded as though he had had this conversation many times before. “I have told you time and again, Ronald, that I did not ask for this to be the arrangement.”

Flames-Brother groaned good-naturedly. “It’s  _ still _ just Ronnie. And I’ve mostly gotten over it by now, thanks. At least you let me have some control.” He lowered his voice down to a conspiratorial whisper and leaned even closer to Snow-Sister. “But only when he feels like taking a break.”

“I heard that!” Grey-Friend called to Flames-Brother. He smiled guiltily and pulled Snow-Sister in for a kiss, accidentally squishing Mushu in between them.

“Oops,” Flames-Brother muttered to her. “Busted.”

Griffin purred in amusement at the way that the two human men spoke to one another. This… This was good. Her family was safe and together, Redsparks-Demon was locked up where he couldn’t escape, and Mushu and Question-Brother were back. Fire-Father was unharmed, Sparks-Brother would be okay, and both Snow-Sister and her mate were happy. They were okay. They were all okay.

It had all turned out alright in the end.

* * *

Vermithrax slunk around Sparks-Brother as the human man advanced towards the still captive Redspark-Demon. “Ah,” Redsparks-Demon greeted them. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, it took you a whole hour longer to decide than I thought it would.”

“So,” Sparks-Brother interrupted him. “How does this work? Your grand plan?”

“Well, it’s not that grand at all, Barry,” Redsparks-Demon corrected him. Vermithrax dug his claws into the ground and imagined that it was Redsparks-Demon’s throat. “In fact, it’s rather simple. We use the particle accelerator.”

“The particle accel-” Sparks-Brother cut himself off with a bitter dry laugh. “The last time that happened, you caused an explosion that hurt a lot of people.”

“This time, the accelerator will operate exactly the way that it was designed to,” Redsparks-Demon dismissed his argument. “Except instead of two particles moving in opposite directions colliding at the speed of light in the inner ring, we’re only going to inject  _ one _ particle into the accelerator.”

Sparks-Brother’s eyes widened with realization. “And I’m what it collides with…”

“And if you can go fast enough, Barry,” Redsparks-Demon said, taking a few steps forwards. Vermithrax matched him stride for stride, making sure that Redsparks-Demon knew that he wasn’t afraid of him anymore. “If you can hit that particle with enough speed, you will punch a hole right through the fabric of reality. And you will create a portal connecting  _ this _ time…” Redsparks-Demon gestured widely. “To infinite times.”

“A wormhole,” Sparks-Brother said disbelievingly. Vermithrax growled in agreement. Sparks-Brother was right to be suspicious of anything that Redsparks-Demon tried to offer him.

“Through which one might travel back to the past-say, to the night your mother died-or forwards to the future-to, say, my time,” Redsparks-Demon said triumphantly. Vermithrax raked the unyielding floor with his talons. He longed to sink his claws into Redsparks-Demon’s flesh, to make him  _ pay  _ for taking Mushu and Question-Brother and for hurting his family. But the dragon couldn’t. Not yet.

“You said  _ if _ I run fast enough,” Sparks-Brother noted. “What happens if I don’t?”

“If you don’t achieve the desired velocity, Barry, you’ll die.” Redsparks-Demon shrugged.

Vermithrax suddenly lunged forwards and smashed into the glass, making Sparks-Brother jump and Redsparks-Demon laugh at his misfortune. The large grey dragonlet snarled angrily and lashed his tail.  _ “Don’t you  _ ever _ try to hurt or kill one of my clutchmates again,”  _ Vermithrax yowled furiously.  _ “He may not be Fire-Father, and he may not be blood, but Sparks-Brother is  _ mine.  _ And if you want to hurt him, you’re going to have to fight your way through me first.” _

Redsparks-Demon kept laughing. “Call of your dragon, Barry. I thought that they were supposed to be more intelligent than this. The one that I took certainly seemed to be.”

Vermithrax slammed himself against the wall of the box for a second time. Sparks-Brother pulled him away. “No, Vermithrax. He’s stuck back there. And as much as I would  _ love _ to let you tear him to pieces”-he stopped to glare at Redsparks-Demon-“we can’t do that. At least not yet.”

Vermithrax growled at Redsparks-Demon.  _ “Fine. I’ll wait. But only because I can’t get through the wall.” _

Sparks-Brother carefully set Vermithrax down beside him and tapped the dragon on the nose. “Don’t move.” He looked back at Redsparks-Demon. “So… I’ll die.” Redsparks-Demon nodded and Sparks-Brother sighed. “If, hypothetically speaking, I  _ agreed _ to your proposal, what would you need to get back? Your suit? Some sort of stabilizing device?”

“A time machine,” Redsparks-Demon answered promptly. “I believe that Mr. Ramon is more than qualified to make one.” Vermithrax growled at his use of Fire-Father’s human name. “Although I would like my suit back, or at the very least the object that can be found attached to the palm of it. It will help me find my way through the wormhole once it has been created.”

That was a lie. Vermithrax could tell. Although what  _ part  _ of it was a lie was impossible for him to know.

Sparks-Brother narrowed his eyes at Redsparks-Demon. “You wouldn’t, by any chance, be talking about the detachable AI projector that we found on the palm of your suit, would you? The one that has the same design as Gideon’s systems do in your time vault?”

“That’s the one.” Redsparks-Demon cocked his head to one side.

“Then no,” Sparks-Brother said, shaking his head. “We’re letting you go back home. You don’t get to take any of your stuff back-er, forwards with you.”

Redsparks-Demon sighed. “You’re as stubborn as you’ve always been, Barry. Fine. Keep it. But at least give me back the rest of my suit.” He smirked at Sparks-Brother. “I look forwards to continuing our little dance when I return back to my own time.”

Sparks-Brother glared back at him and clenched his fists before turning around and walking back to the door. Vermithrax followed after him with one last parting growl at Redsparks-Demon accompanied by a puff of dark smoke. Sparks-Brother closed the door and stared at it for a moment before kicking it a couple of times. Vermithrax nipped his ankle.

_ “No. Don’t do that, Sparks-Brother. Humans are squishy and sometimes brittle on their insides. You’re going to hurt yourself doing that eventually.”  _ Vermithrax tugged the hem of Sparks-Brother’s pants away down the hall towards where the other humans were. They would be able to calm him down.

Sparks-Brother sighed and looked down at Vermithrax. “Thanks.” The human man ran a hand through his hair and started walking again. Sparks-Brother’s hands were still clenched into fists, and Vermithrax suddenly smelled the coppery scent of blood coming from him.

The dragon picked up the pace and skidded to a halt in front of Sparks-Brother. Vermithrax reared up onto his hind legs and tugged at Sparks-Brother’s sleeve. The man blinked down at him. “What are you-oh.”

He unclenched his hands, revealing bloody crescents where his fingernails (like talons, but duller and for humans and you had to cut them to keep them short) had broken through the skin on his palms. Vermithrax narrowed his yellow eyes disapprovingly at Sparks-Brother.  _ “You hurt yourself on accident. Don’t do that.” _

“Sorry, it was an accident,” Sparks-Brother sighed. He massaged his bleeding palm with his thumb. “I just  _ hate  _ him, and I can’t-” He broke off. “I heal quick, though, remember? Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

Vermithrax watched him as he walked off at a normal speed, at least for a human.  _ “Your injuries will be fine,”  _ he huffed,  _ “but that does not mean that  _ you _ will be.”  _ He ran to catch up to Sparks-Brother and walked alongside him.  _ “I’ll ask Smaug to keep an eye on you,”  _ Vermithrax decided.  _ “He’ll make sure that nothing bad happens to you while I guard Fire-Father and make sure that Redsparks-Demon doesn’t manage to escape from the box he’s in.” _

The two kept walking. Vermithrax realized that somewhere along the lines of living with his siblings and Fire-Father and fighting Redsparks-Demon, he had somehow decided that every one of the humans that he knew from the Star Lair were his family. Well, except for Redsparks-Demon of course.

And since they were his family, Vermithrax decided that he was going to have to protect them all.

From each other, from themselves, and from Redsparks-Demon.

* * *

“So if Wells is as fast as you, what does he need a time machine for?” Flames-Brother asked as Fire-Father and the dragonlets followed him into one of Fire-Father’s many workrooms.

“Apparently he lost his speed when he killed my mom,” Sparks-Brother, who was walking behind him, replied. The trio of humans gathered around something large that they had seen Sparks-Brother and Fire-Father carry into the room earlier that day. “He gets it back sometimes, but only in spurts. He can’t fully control it.”

“So I was right about the wheelchair,” Fire-Father realized. Griffin chirped encouragingly from where she was on the ground by their feet. “He was using it to charge himself.”

“So after I open the wormhole, he’s gonna need the ship to travel back to the future,” Sparks-Brother explained to the other two humans. “He’s been squirreling away the parts.”

“So now we just need to put it together,” Flames-Brother said, walking over to a large table with strange machine parts strewn around on it.

“Ronnie, I love you,” Fire-Father sighed as he followed his friend over to the table, “but this is a  _ time machine _ , not a bookcase from IKEA.”

Flames-Brother ignored him as he lifted something up off of the table. “We’ve got a problem. These tiles, they’re made of tungsten.”

_ “What does that mean?”  _ Griffin wondered aloud. Saphira lightly flicked her smaller golden sister with her tail.

“Well, tungsten does have the highest melting point of any other element,” Fire-Father pointed out. He looked down at the strange metal object that Flames-Brother was holding.

“Yeah, uh, but the dust it generates is flammable.” Flames-Brother looked around. He frowned at Fire-Father for a moment before holding the object in his hands closer to him. “The pressure exerted from the wormhole-”

Fire-Father nodded as he understood. “Yeah, yeah, it could cause a hole to be melted into the exterior.” He looked over at Sparks-Brother and the five dragonlets. “It could explode.”

_ “Would that be a bad thing?”  _ Vermithrax pointed out to his siblings and to the humans.  _ “If we’re putting Redsparks-Demon in there, who cares if it explodes or not? He deserves to die for what he has done. I think we should  _ let _ it explode.” _

_ “You know that isn’t how the humans do things,” _ Smaug meowed.  _ “They don’t like to kill if they don’t have to.” _

Vermithrax lashed his tail and narrowed his eyes into angry slits.  _ “Even when they should?”  _

Sparks-Brother shrugged. “Any ideas?”

Fire-Father sighed. “Let me ask Dr. Evil.” Vermithrax stiffened and moved to follow him as he headed down off towards the hallway. Before he could get very far, however, Griffin overtook him, waving for him to stay where he was with her tail. Fire-Father turned around and pointed to his scowling face. “Which used to be a name that made me smile.”

Griffin walked down the hallways and corridors beside him.  _ “You shouldn’t go down there. Redsparks-Demon will hurt you somehow. I don’t know if he can escape from the box where he’s trapped, but if he can than I don’t know if I will be able to protect you from him. He’s a demon, and I’m so small…”  _ She shivered.  _ “I wish that I was bigger so that I could protect you better.” _

As they approached the box where Redsparks-Demon was trapped, Fire-Father pulled out a few papers. Instead of greeting the captive demon, he slid the papers through some sort of drawer that dumped them into the box in front of him. Redsparks-Demon picked them up and rifled through them as Fire-Father paced back and forth in front of the cell.

Redsparks-Demon looked up from the papers. “Something on your mind, Cisco?”

“No,” Fire-Father answered. He was lying. Griffin could tell. She started pacing back and forth with him, matching him stride for stride. Then he stopped and faced Redsparks-Demon. “Yes. How did you fit your Reverse-Flash suit into that tiny little ring? Is it some sort of compressed microtech? Or-actually, forget it. I don’t care.” He paused for a moment. “Maybe a little.”

Redsparks-Demon stopped looking through the papers that Fire-Father had given to him. “Ronnie’s right. I should have accounted for temporal shearing.”

“Glad we’re still good for something,” Fire-Father said bitterly.

“I’ve never underestimated your contribution, Cisco,” Redsparks-Demon said mildly as he looked through the cell wall at Fire-Father. “Or Ronnie. As a matter of fact, do you know how many times I wished you were there with me as I rebuilt the accelerator? Would’ve been a lot more fun.”

“Yeah? Well it doesn’t change the fact that your nifty little time sphere-” Fire-Father began hotly only be cut off.

“Oh, is that what you’re calling it?” Redsparks-Demon raised an eyebrow.

“Whatever it’s called!” Fire-Father’s voice was steadily getting louder and louder. “It’s gonna blow.”

Redsparks-Demon narrowed his eyes. “Not if you cement the tiles with a cobalt resin. That’ll prevent degradation in conditions of extreme heat.”

Fire-Father rolled his eyes and turned to walk away, Griffin moving to follow after him with one last hiss in Redsparks-Demon’s direction. “Okay. Fine. We’ll try that.”

“That’s it? That’s all?” Redsparks-Demon sounded surprised.

Fire-Father spun around and threw his arms in the air. “Well, what do you want me to say?” He demanded. Griffin growled warningly as he turned to advance once again on Redsparks-Demon’s box, and Fire-Father looked down at her. “Shush, Sweet Bean.”

“I don’t know, Cisco. I thought that of anyone you’d be a little bit more understanding of my predicament,” Redsparks-Demon hissed through gritted teeth. Griffin snarled lowly at him. He pressed his hands against the walls of his box. “I don’t belong here. These barbaric times. It’s like living amongst the dead.”

Redsparks-Demon turned around to face the other wall as Fire-Father closed his eyes painfully for a moment. “Is that what you told yourself when you killed me?”

Redsparks-Demon looked at him for a long minute in confusion. “What?” He sounded genuinely surprised, but Griffin knew better than to trust anything that Redsparks-Demon did. “What did you say?”

Fire-Father paused and clenched his fists before relaxing them. Griffin pressed up against his leg to provide a comforting grounding point.  _ “It’s okay,”  _ she soothed,  _ “you don’t have to tell him. I don’t even know what happened. It’s okay. You can leave if you want to.” _

“It was an alternate timeline,” Fire-Father began in a whisper. “One that Barry reset.” He licked his lips. “But I never forgot it. It just… Kept coming back to me. And I can still picture the way you looked at me when you called me a son.” Fire-Father paused for a moment before continuing. “And you  _ crushed  _ my  _ heart _ with your fist.”

“Cisco,” Fire-Father whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, it sucked,” Fire-Father spat out bitterly. Griffin arched her back and bared her teeth at Redsparks-Demon. She didn’t remember what Fire-Father was talking about, but she didn’t doubt him. He didn’t smell like he was lying, and besides it wasn’t in Fire-Father’s nature to lie. At least not about big things like that.

“No, not for killing you. I’m sure that I had a good reason-” Redsparks-Demon began, and Griffin saw red. She lunged forwards and crashed into the glass, causing Redsparks-Demon to smirk at her. “You know, your brother did the exact same thing earlier.” He looked at Fire-Father. “Pull her back.”

“Why should I?” Fire-Father challenged him. “You just said that you weren’t sorry-that you weren’t sorry for killing me!”

“I’m  _ not  _ sorry for killing you,” Redsparks-Demon said patiently. “I’m sorry that you had to  _ remember. _ I’m sorry for the fact that you were able to retain traces of another timeline. It means that you’re able to see through the  _ vibrations _ of the universe.” He smiled to himself as though he had said something funny, even though Griffin didn’t understand it. “It means… I wasn’t sure until just now.”

Fire-Father had been walking slowly closer and closer to Redsparks-Demon as he spoke. He bit his lower lip nervously. “Sure of what?”

_ “Tell us or I will rip you apart piece by piece,”  _ Griffin threatened. Her golden tail began to flick, and the cat-sized dragon raked the ground with her talons.  _ “Your wall won’t be able to keep me out this time.” _

“The night that the particle accelerator exploded,” Redsparks-Demon murmured to Fire-Father, “you were affected too.”

Fire-Father stared at him blankly before starting to shake his head. “What are you talking about?” He scoffed weakly. “No. I wasn’t.”

“Don’t be afraid, Cisco.” Redsparks-Demon tilted his head to one side and looked down at Fire-Father. “A great and honorable destiny awaits you now.” He leaned forwards and Griffin tried to pull Fire-Father back to safety. “I only hope that, as you are living your great adventure, that you remember who gave you that life. And that it was given out of love.”

Fire-Father stared at him in shock for a few more moments before he turned around, shut the door to the cell, and started walking hurriedly down the hallways back towards where Flames-Brother and Sparks-Brother were working. He wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand as he went, and Griffin mewed nervously.

Fire-Father looked down at her. “He’s lying, Sweet Bean. He’s lying-he  _ has _ to be lying. There’s no way that I was affected by the explosion. He’s just trying to get under my skin and make me doubt myself. That’s all. There’s no way that I’m a…” He paused and shook his head. “No. I’m not.”

Griffin tilted her head.  _ “I don’t understand. What did Redsparks-Demon mean?” _

“You don’t get it, do you?” Fire-Father sighed. “Of course you don’t. I never explained to you guys why some people have powers and some people don’t. Well, it’s all because of Wells-Thawne, I mean. It’s his fault. All of it. He’s the one who blew a hole in the city and gave people abilities that they didn’t know how to use. His fault why we thought that Ronnie was dead for the longest time and broke Caitlin’s heart. And I-and I helped him. I _worked_ with him to make it. And then he killed me. And even though it was in another timeline… It was still real. Wells-er, Thawne still killed me. Maybe he killed you too, I don’t know. But now, now he’s saying that I have powers. That I’m like Barry and Ronnie. Like Bette and Shawna. Like Mardon and Nimbus and Bivolo and all of the other criminals. That I’m… like _him.”_

_ “You’re  _ nothing _ like Redsparks-Demon!”  _ Griffin cried.  _ “You’re a good human, like Sparks-Brother, Snow-Sister, Steel-Friend, Rain-Sister, Question-Brother, Grey-Friend, Flames-Brother, Night-Friend, and all of the others! You’re a  _ good human,  _ Fire-Father. I promise.” _

“Everything that Wells made was evil,” Fire-Father whispered, hugging his shoulders. He’d stopped walking before when he started his little speech. “And that includes most of the metahumans. If I’m a metahuman…”

_ “Not all…”  _ Griffin paused for a moment and tilted her head to one side.  _ “Not all whatever-you-saids are bad. Sparks-Brother is one, I think. Because he is fast and most of the other humans are not. Redsparks-Demon is the only other fast one. And Flames-Brother! Flames-Brother and Grey-Friend are like that when they glow and make Burning-Friend! They are not bad. Smoke-Friend wasn’t bad either. She gave me a sparkly once. Pulled it off of her ear.” _

“Barry’s an exception.” Fire-Father shook his head. “Ronnie and Stein, they’re two people bearing their burden. Shawna’s a criminal, she’d been one since before she got her powers. She just didn’t kill people so we let her go.” Fire-Father took a deep breath. “And Bette… Bette, you never met her. She was beautiful and dangerous and amazing. If she’d lived, she would have  _ never  _ gone dark side on us. Never. She was too strong for that.”

Griffin churred and licked Fire-Father’s hand.  _ “You’re good, Fire-Father. Promise. No matter what Redsparks-Demon says, you’re a good human.” _

Fire-Father pushed himself away from the wall. “Come on, Griffy-girl. Let’s go help the others.” He looked over his shoulder back down the way that they had come. “I’ll have Barry go back down there to get the blueprints from Wells later.”

Griffin bobbed her head and continued down the corridor on Fire-Father’s heels. The golden dragonlet remembered what Vermithrax had growled to her earlier and shuddered. Her caramel scales rippled as the shiver went out down through her halfway open wings.

Redsparks-Demon was captured, yes. But he was still tearing her family apart piece by piece.

* * *

Saphira cuddled up close to Snow-Sister as the human woman wrung her hands anxiously. “It’s okay,” Snow-Sister muttered to herself. “I just have to go down there and get the blueprints back since Cisco forgot to ask Barry to do it and Ronnie is working on their time machine with him. Just go down there, ask for the blueprints back, and take them to Cisco so that we can get Wells home and save Barry’s mom. Easy.”

_ “You don’t have to go down there if you don’t want to,”  _ Saphira assured her.  _ “Fire-Father, Sparks-Brother, and Flames-Brother will understand. Fire-Father can get them back himself if he wants. Although I don’t want him to go anywhere near Redsparks-Demon if he doesn’t have to.” _

“You don’t have to worry about me,” Snow-Sister smiled weakly down at Saphira. “I can talk to Wells. I’ve done lots of things more dangerous than that, right?”

Saphira purred quietly to her.  _ “Right. I think.” _

Snow-Sister nodded. “Right. Okay. C’mon, Precious Flower.” She started walking before looking down at the blue dragon. “Don’t tell Cisco I called you that.”

As the pair headed down towards The Loop, Snow-Sister raised her chin and puffed out her chest, trying to appear confident and unafraid. Saphira chirped and lightly bumped her horns against Snow-Sister’s calf muscle. She would protect her. Snow-Sister wouldn’t get hurt while Saphira was there if Redsparks-Demon somehow managed to escape from the box where he was being held captive.

As Snow-Sister opened the door outside of Redsparks-Demon’s cell, he smiled at her and leaned forwards. “Caitlin,” he greeted. “I was wondering when you would come down. I assume that you came for these?”

He waved a handful of papers in the air, and Snow-Sister nodded. Redsparks-Demon stepped forwards and set the papers onto what looked like a drawer before closing it and pushing it closed. Snow-Sister stretched her arm out as far as it would go, being careful not to get too close to the cell as she opened the drawer from the other side and pulled out the papers.

As she turned around and started to walk away, Redsparks-Demon called after her, “What, no goodbye?”

Snow-Sister stopped in her tracks and spun around on her heel. She glared icily at Redsparks-Demon. “I’m not going to say goodbye to a  _ murderer _ who pretended to be my friend.”

Redsparks-Demon sighed as if he were offended by her words. “I never pretended to be your friend, Ms. Snow. I pretended to be Harrison Wells, yes, but I never pretended to care about you. You were like a daughter to me, in the same way that I think of Cisco as a son of sorts.”

“If you thought of him as your  _ son,  _ why did you kill him?” Snow-Sister demanded before snapping her mouth shut and looking at Redsparks-Demon as if she had just said something that she shouldn’t have.

Redsparks-Demon waved a hand airily. “Cisco already told me about that, Caitlin.” He looked at Snow-Sister with narrowed eyes. That seemed to be his most common facial expression. “I would imagine that in that alternate timeline, you were the one to find his body.”

Snow-Sister’s lip trembled for a moment before she got herself under control. Saphira hissed a warning at Redsparks-Demon. If he dared to try to do  _ anything _ to Snow-Sister, he would find himself on the wrong side of her talons. Snow-Sister closed her eyes for a moment. “Maybe I was. I don’t remember anything from that timeline. Cisco and Barry are the only ones who do.”

“You should consider yourself lucky,” Redsparks-Demon murmured. “I know from experience that it’s a traumatic experience to remember a timeline that nobody else does.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel sympathy for you?” Snow-Sister asked, crossing her arms. Saphira arched her back and curled around her feet.

“No. It’s not. But I want you to know that I understand how betrayed you must feel,” Redsparks-Demon said in an attempt to sooth Snow-Sister.

Snow-Sister scowled and turned around. “No, you don’t. You can’t.” She started to walk away before turning back to look over her shoulder. “At least I’ll never have to see you again once you’re back to whatever future hell hole you crawled out of.”

Saphira leaned forwards and sank her teeth into the bottom of Snow-Sister’s shirt.  _ “Come on. You’ve made your point, and you got the papers back for Fire-Father and Flames-Brother. Let’s go.” _

For once, Snow-Sister seemed to actually understand what Saphira was trying to tell her, because she let herself be pulled along back down to where Fire-Father, Sparks-Brother, and Flames-Brother were working.

Fire-Father accepted the papers from Snow-Sister with a small smile. “Thanks, Cait. But I could’ve gotten them for you.”

She shook her head. “You seemed pretty shaken up after you came back from going down there last time, so I figured that I would do you a favor.”

Flames-Brother pressed his lips against hers as he passed, something that the humans called a ‘kiss’. Fire-Father had done it to them a few times, and it seemed to be a way for them to show affection, the same way that purring and cuddling was for the dragons.

“Thanks, Caitlin.” Fire-Father beamed at her. Sparks-Brother smiled and nodded in agreement.

Mushu, who was resting underneath a table, raised his head up off of his paws and looked at Saphira.  _ “Redsparks-Demon didn’t try anything, did he?” _

Saphira shook her head and padded over to stretch out beside him.  _ “No. If he had…” _

Mushu flicked out his tail and let it stroke her flank.  _ “I know that you would have protected Snow-Sister.” _

That was when Grey-Friend entered the room, looking around at the assembled humans and dragons nervously. “We have a problem.”

Sparks-Brother rolled around in his chair to face him. “What?”

“The calculations,” Grey-Friend explained hurriedly. “There is a danger.”

Sparks-Brother nodded. “I know. I’m ready to take the risk.”

Grey-Friend shook his head. “No, not just to you, but to everyone.” He looked around. “Wells didn’t tell us everything. Barry, even if you  _ do _ reach the right speed, colliding with the hydrogen particle, there is a chance that the explosion could create a singularity.”

“W _ ha _ t’s  _ a _ si _ ngular _ ity?” Snow-Sister and Saphira asked at the same time.

“It’s a black hole,” Fire-Father replied. His eyes were wide with fear and surprise.

“We could destroy Central City,” Sparks-Brother realized.

“For starters,” Grey-Friend agreed. “If we create a singularity here and then cannot control it, we could be looking at a global catastrophe.”

Fire-Father gulped. “So long and thanks for all the fish.”

Snow-Sister rubbed her forehead before walking over to him and elbowing him in the gut.

* * *

Saphira went cross-eyed as she looked at the pair of sparkly things that Fire-Father had gently set on her snout with an instruction not to do anything to them or take them.  _ “What are they?” _

_ “I don’t know.”  _ Griffin’s tail curled.  _ “But I think they’re Snow-Sister’s and Flames-Brother’s.” _

_ “Oh. Is that why I can’t take them?”  _ Saphira asked her smaller sister.

Griffin nodded.  _ “I think so.” _

Snow-Sister and Flames-Brother stood facing each other with Grey-Friend in the middle. Snow-Sister was wearing something white that looked almost like it had a tail trailing off onto the green grass behind her.

“If it’s alright with everyone, I’d like to skip all the Hebrew,” Grey-Friend stated. Rain-Sister laughed and twined her fingers with Question-Brother’s. “I’ve learned a lot about merging one’s life with another this past year. Yet for all of the incredible advancements in science that we’ve been privy to, the mystery that brings people together through love is still the province of magic.” He looked at Fire-Father. “Mr. Ramon, I believe that your pet has the rings?”

Fire-Father nodded and patted Saphira’s back. “Go ahead, Saffy. Give the rings to Caitlin and Ronnie.”

Rings? Were those the sparklies that he had given her? Saphira hoped that they were as she picked her way over to Snow-Sister and Flames-Brother, being careful not to let them fall off of her head. When she made it to the two humans, Snow-Sister and Flames-Brother each picked one up off of her head.

Snow-Sister slipped one of the ‘rings’ onto one of Flames-Brother’s fingers, and then he did the same to her.

“I owe you a real ring,” Flames-Brother murmured to Snow-Sister.

She shook her head and smiled at him. “I don’t need one. I have everything and every _ one _ that I could ever need right here.” She looked around as Saphira burbled. “And every creature, too.” Fire-Father laughed. Snow-Sister took a small step closer to Flames-Brother. “Ronnie, if the events of the past year have led us to this moment…” Snow-Sister took a deep breath. “It was worth it. I love you, Ronnie.”

Grey-Friend nodded at them. “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”

Flames-Brother looked at him and smiled. “Stop telling me what to do.”

He leaned forwards and took Snow-Sister’s face in his hands before pressing their lips together for a long time. Rain-Sister cheered and held her hand up in the air, the one that was holding the yellow cluster of flowers that Snow-Sister had given her before taking the rings off of Saphira’s muzzle. Sparks-Brother, Steel-Friend, Question-Brother, and Fire-Father all started clapping their hands together.

Saphira purred loudly and reared back up onto her hind legs before blowing a small spout of flames into the air. Vermithrax loudly roared his approval. Smaug, Griffin, and Mushu all chattered excitedly, Griffin and Smaug starting to play wrestle on the grass in their excitement.

Saphira licked Snow-Sister’s hand as she continued to kiss Flames-Brother. Snow-Sister and Flames-Brother were happy now, and that was what mattered the most.

Wasn’t it?

* * *

Something was going on, and the dragons didn’t like it.

Sparks-Brother was wearing the red, like he did so often, but this time… This time it felt different. This time it felt like the last time.

But it wasn’t, it couldn’t be. Sparks-Brother had said before that no matter what happened, he wouldn’t stop wearing the red until the city was safe.

Maybe that had finally happened now that Redsparks-Demon was gone.

Right? That had to be it.

Fire-Father stepped forwards. “Okay. There are gonna be three yous back there; the you from the future, who saved younger you from the Reverse-Flash, and now  _ you _ you.” He tapped Sparks-Brother’s chest. “Remember, wait until future you gets younger you out of there. And then you can go and save your mom.”

Sparks-Brother smiled at him. “Piece of cake.”

Fire-Father grabbed Sparks-Brother’s shoulders and looked him dead in the eyes. “May the speed force be with you.”

Sparks-Brother crouched down and rubbed Smaug under the chin, scratched Vermithrax’s horns, stroked Griffin’s spines, patted Mushu’s tail, and tapped Saphira affectionately on the nose. “Bye guys.”

Griffin stiffened.  _ “What do you mean?" _

Smaug leaned forwards and licked Sparks-Brother’s nose.  _ “See you soon, Sparks-Brother. I still have to make sure that you don’t do anything  _ too  _ dangerous.” _

Fire-Father bent down and scooped Smaug up when the dragon didn’t move from his position in front of Sparks-Brother’s face. While they may have been too big to perch on his shoulders, Smaug was still small enough and light enough to be carried without too much effort on Fire-Father’s behalf.

The five dragonlets watched as Sparks-Brother hugged Steel-Friend. Rain-Sister kissed his forehead, and exchanged a nod with Question-Brother, who grasped Rain-Sister’s hand in his own.

Fire-Father set Smaug down on the ground and then reached out to open the door into The Loop. Then he clicked his tongue. “Come on, babies,” he murmured, “stay back here with me. Don’t try to follow Barry. You wouldn’t be able to catch up with him anyways.”

Sparks-Brother walked forwards to the other side of the door as it closed behind him, locking the speedster out of sight.

Fire-Father turned and started jogging down the hallway, Rain-Sister and Question-Brother following him. The five dragonlets stared at the closed door for a moment longer, wondering if Sparks-Brother was going to start pounding on the other side and asking them to open it back up again even though it was physically impossible for the dragons to do that.

As they padded down the corridor after Fire-Father’s scent, Smaug voiced his fears.  _ “Is Sparks-Brother going to come back?” _

Vermithrax curled his lip back and bared his teeth.  _ “He’d better. I am not going to let Redsparks-Demon hurt anyone else.” _

Grey-Friend’s voice rang out loudly as they entered the room where the other humans were waiting. “Remember, Mr. Allen, assuming you achieve the proper velocity and open the wormhole, you will only have one minute to save your mother and return. Or else-”

“I know,” Sparks-Brother cut him off. Smaug chirped in delight upon hearing his voice and jumped up onto the table to stand beside one of the monitors that Grey-Friend was looking at. Sparks-Brother was alive. That was what was important.

Flames-Brother leaned over Snow-Sister’s shoulder and peered at a screen in front of them both. “The accelerator’s structural integrity is holding.”

Something loud and low suddenly shook the entire Star Lair, and Vermithrax yowled in surprise. Steel-Friend jumped and looked up at the ceiling like he was worried that it would collapse. “What was that?” He looked at Grey-Friend. “Is Barry okay?”

“Yeah,” Fire-Father gasped in amazement. A smile split his face as he leaned over the monitor beside Rain-Sister. “He just passed mach 2.”

Snow-Sister stared at the screen in front of her in shocked wonderment. Flames-Brother and Fire-Father punched the air in unison, and Question-Brother wrapped his arms around Rain-Sister’s waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.

_ “Is that bad?”  _ Griffin asked.

Mushu shook his head.  _ “I don’t think so. I think that it just means that Sparks-Brother is fast. Faster than we thought he was, even.” _

Something ran through all of the dragons like an electric shock, sending shivers through their scales and rippling out across their wings. Griffin burbled in discomfort and shifted her weight from paw to paw, shaking out what felt almost like tiny pinpricks through her paws.  _ “What was that?” _

Vermithrax growled.  _ “I don’t know. But I don’t like it.” _

Smaug suddenly arched his back and hissed as the dark brownish black liquid in Grey-Friend’s cup started to rise into the air. He remembered Fire-Father’s drink doing something similar when they had gone down into The Loop to find Mushu and Question-Brother after Redsparks-Demon took them away.

Grey-Friend pulled his hand away from the cup. “Inject the hydrogen particle now.”

Fire-Father took a deep breath and tapped something onto the screen. A blue light appeared opposite the red one, and… They smashed into each other in a burst of light.

Rain-Sister jumped and looked around. “What’s that, what happened?!”

“It’s Barry,” Snow-Sister said in a small voice. “He’s gone.”

“Look!” Fire-Father pointed at the screen and carefully scooted Smaug out of the way.

“The wormhole,” Grey-Friend murmured. He looked around at the other humans and five young dragons. “And it’s stable. Start the clock!”

Snow-Sister tapped a button, and green shapes appeared on the screen in front of her. Saphira and Mushu pressed themself up against Snow-Sister’s and Flames-Brother’s respective legs.

Mushu arched his back.  _ “What do you think they meant by ‘gone’?” _

_ “Hopefully not something bad.”  _ Smaug shuddered.

Grey-Friend squinted at the screen before looking up over his shoulder. “I believe it’s time to say goodbye to Harrison Wells.”

Fire-Father and Steel-Friend looked at each other. Fire-Father sighed. “Ronnie?” He called to Flames-Brother. “Will you help me bring the machine down to the Pipeline in front of the wormhole while Joe gets Wells out of the cell?”

Flames-Brother nodded and kissed Snow-Sister’s cheek one more time before walking over to stand next to Fire-Father and rest his hand on his shoulder. “Of course.”

All five of the dragonlets followed after them, although Saphira only went a few paces before pausing and shifting her weight nervously from paw to paw.  _ “Do you think it would be alright with Fire-Father if I stayed?” _

_ “Of course,”  _ Mushu purred, turning around to bound back over to his sister’s side and lick her ear comfortingly.  _ “I’ll wait here too to help you watch over Snow-Sister, Grey-Friend, Rain-Sister, and Question-Brother. Don’t worry. Fire-Father and Flames-Brother will understand why we’re staying behind. Snow-Sister is Flames-Brother’s mate, after all, and she certainly acts like she’s Fire-Father’s clutchmate.” _

Vermithrax nodded to his remaining siblings as they followed Flames-Brother and Fire-Father towards the room where they had been working on the strange machine. Flames-Brother lifted up one half of it while Fire-Father struggled underneath the immense weight of the other. Vermithrax ducked underneath the object as they began to laboriously carry it down to The Loop.

“We probably should have done this earlier, when there wasn’t such a time crunch,” Fire-Father grunted.

Flames-Brother shook his head. “Barry might’ve run into it before he collided with the hydrogen particle. It would have been too risky to bring it down any earlier.”

“Fair enough,” Fire-Father sighed. Then he smiled across the machine at his friend and wiggled his eyebrows. “But still, not all of us have your biceps.”

Flames-Brother laughed. “Don’t forget, Cisco, I’m a married man now.”

The two human men teased and joked with each other as they set the strange large bubble-like machine down in front of something… Something that just felt  _ bad  _ and  _ wrong. _ Vermithrax shuddered and bared his teeth. Whatever that was in front of him, he did  _ not _ like it. It made the strange tingling in his scales even worse. Like there were ants crawling underneath his horns and inside of his blood.

Flames-Brother wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. “Would it be alright if I went back up to the Cortex? I want to stay with Caitlin. Plus, I don’t know why, but it feels less like a really strong magnetic pull to fuse with Stein when I’m closer to him. Caitlin would be able to tell you why, but…”

Fire-Father nodded. “Of course, man.”

Flames-Brother ran back towards the room where they had left Snow-Sister, Rain-Sister, Grey-Friend, and Question-Brother.

As Fire-Father watched warily, Steel-Friend led Redsparks-Demon to the machine. Redsparks-Demon was wearing his bad, strange yellow clothing, an awful mockery of what Sparks-Brother always wore when he went out to try to stop other humans from doing bad things. The hood that usually covered Sparks-Brother’s head was pulled down, revealing Redsparks-Demon’s face.

Vermithrax longed to claw his eyes out, but just barely managed to hold himself back from attacking.

Smaug stared into the depths of the strange swirling whirlwind. It felt horrible and strange, but that didn’t stop him from being drawn to it. He could almost  _ see _ something moving and flickering in the depths. Smaug realized that he could smell faint strains of Sparks-Brother’s scent leading up to the awful thing. His eyes widened and he let out a small mew of shock.  _ “I think Sparks-Brother is  _ in _ there.” _

Griffin froze, wings raising slightly up off of her scaly back.  _ “I think you’re right, Smaug-Brother.” _ She shuddered.  _ “Will Fire-Father have to go in there too?” _

_ “I don’t think so.”  _ Smaug nervously plucked at the floor with his talons.  _ “I hope not. If he does, I don’t know if we’ll be able to follow him.” _

Vermithrax watched as Redsparks-Demon started to slowly circle around the machine.  _ “Is Redsparks-Demon going to go inside of that…  _ Thing _ too?” _

_ “If he does, I hope he never comes back,”  _ Griffin snarled. Smaug inclined his head in agreement and Vermithrax nodded.

“It’s beautiful,” Redsparks-Demon complimented, having finished his thorough inspection of the machine. “Rip Hunter would be impressed. He built the first one of these. Interesting man.”

Suddenly, the strange swirling thing started glowing, and it spat out something shiny that Vermithrax almost pounced on before realizing that it would probably be best not to get too close to it. Steel-Friend stared at it. “Now what the hell is that?”

Redsparks-Demon frowned at it. “That’s my cue to leave.” He turned and walked up to Fire-Father, only to be blocked by three snarling dragons. Redsparks-Demon stopped and didn’t come any closer, although he still held Fire-Father in his narrowed gaze. “Thank you, Cisco.”

Fire-Father bit his lip. “Don’t ever come back.”

Redsparks-Demon turned and silently clambered into the strange machine that Flames-Brother and Fire-Father had worked so hard on. He pressed something, and then a clear wall slid forwards to cover the front of the odd bubble.

Vermithrax stopped watching him for a moment to look at Fire-Father. The human wasn’t looking at the strange swirling thing in the same way that Redsparks-Demon was, but instead studying it in confusion before looking back at Redsparks-Demon with a small frown. That was when the strange machine started to whir and slowly spin to directly face the strange hole in the world, and all three dragons ducked for the safety of Steel-Friend’s and Fire-Father’s legs.

“Home,” Redsparks-Demon whispered as he stared deep into what looked like a pinprick in the universe.

And that was when, in a crackle of lightning and motion, something shot out of the strange swirling thing and smashed into the machine.

Fire-Father, Steel-Friend, and the three dragons were all flung backwards, although the dragons recovered from it much faster.

Redsparks-Demon pushed himself up on his hands and stared at Sparks-Brother disbelievingly. “You didn’t save her,” he whispered as he rose to his feet, before raising his voice louder and louder until he was shouting at Sparks-Brother with a voice full of rage. “Why? Why? You could have had the life you wanted! You could have had  _ everything _ you ever wanted!”

Sparks-Brother stood up and smiled at him, shaking his head slowly. Smaug, despite himself, started purring as the human spoke. “I already do.”

“Not for long,” Redsparks-Demon snarled, pulling the hood up over his face. His entire body started to shake and vibrate, blurring the edges of his body.

In twin flashes of lightning, one trailing bloody red and the other one chased by snaps of yellow, they began to fight faster than the eye could follow.

Vermithrax snarled and looked around for where they had disappeared to. There! He knew which one was Sparks-Brother and which one was Redsparks-Demon, and that meant that he knew  _ exactly _ which one to attack. Vermithrax crouched down, gaze flickering back and forth as the two blurs momentarily separated from their battle, one to plan his next strike and the other one to catch his breath.

Just before Redsparks-Demon could attack again, the grey dragonlet lunged.

While he was nowhere near as fast as either of the two humans, he was still dangerous. So when he opened his mouth and spat out orange flames that enveloped his enemy, Redsparks-Demon let out a small bellow of pain and rage. In a heartbeat the flames had been extinguished, however, and Vermithrax was thrown across the room. He hit the wall and struggled weakly to his paws, dazed but satisfied.

As Redsparks-Demon and Sparks-Brother fought, Vermithrax smelled Question-Brother’s scent. The human man slowed to a halt a few paces back from the wreckage of the machine, fumbling around for something. Saphira and Mushu, who appeared to have followed him, bounded across the space to help pull Vermithrax to Fire-Father’s side. He growled weakly at them before reluctantly following.

That was when, with a humming sound that was almost like a snarl, Redsparks-Demon pinned Sparks-Brother against the one of the walls of The Loop.

The dragons wouldn’t have been able to make it in time even if they hadn’t been preoccupied with protecting Fire-Father.

“Just so we’re clear,” Redsparks-Demon growled as Sparks-Brother struggled weakly in his grasp, and Smaug tried to make a run for him only for his paws to slip out from under him on something that felt suspiciously like blood, “after I kill you, I’m going to kill them. And then I’m going to kill your father. I always win,  _ Flash.” _

That was when a loud sound rang out, and Redsparks-Demon released Sparks-Brother and stumbled away from him in shock.

Vermithrax whipped around in search of the noise as the metallic scent of blood reached his nostrils. Mushu, however, was the one who realized the source first.

The green dragon let out a small wail and was beside Question-Brother in a heartbeat. He was staring straight ahead, eyes blank and limbs shaking. Steel-Friend lept to his feet and charged over to him.

“Eddie!” He shouted, grabbing Question-Brother’s arm as the man’s knees buckles. “What did you do?! What did you do?!”

Mushu licked Question-Brother’s cheek.  _ “No. You’re okay. I’ll protect you, you’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay.” _

Question-Brother’s fingers fluttered weakly as he tried to push the small green dragon off of him. He smiled painfully up at Steel-Friend. “No such thing as a coincidence.”

Mushu whimpered and tried to stop the blood with his paws only to yank them away when he realized that he was only making everything worse.

As the air began to smell like blood, Vermithrax roared in frustration and rage. First Redsparks-Demon had tried to take Fire-Father, then he’d taken away Mushu’s flight, then he’d tried to kill Sparks-Brother, and now he  _ was _ killing Question-Brother! How  _ dare _ he?

The grey dragon attacked with a howl of rage that quickly turned into one of surprise as his body passed right through Redsparks-Demon’s body as if it were made of mist. His body started to shake. He couldn’t even take his revenge.

Mushu felt something wet drop down onto his scales, and knew that Rain-Sister (who had appeared beside her mate as Redsparks-Demon had started to glow) was crying. Underneath his claws, he felt something  _ shift,  _ and then Question-Brother let out a small strangled half gasp.

And then he was gone.

Mushu let out another wail, although this one was of grief. Rain-Sister clutched at Question-Brother’s shirt and sobbed, begging him to  _ come back, please come back, _ through her tears. Steel-Friend closed his eyes but stayed silent, and Fire-Father rubbed at his eyes and tried to stop the tears from coming.

Vermithrax, Saphira, Smaug, and Griffin slowly pulled away from Fire-Father as Redsparks-Demon dissolved into bright glowing light. All five dragons crouched around Question-Brother. Smaug, however, only did so for a moment before taking off and making sure that Sparks-Brother was okay.

That was when the dragon’s scales started tingling again, and the same strange swirling hole in the walls of the world opened again.

But this time, instead of staying there, spinning in midair, it started to suck things in.

“Guys, that’s not good!” Fire-Father yelled. He scooped up Griffin and pulled the other three dragons that were near him back to safety as Sparks-Brother carried Smaug back over to his side.

Sparks-Brother turned to Rain-Sister and gently grabbed her upper arm. “Iris, we have to go.”

“I’m not leaving him!” She protested, still clinging to Question-Brother’s body.

“We have to go  _ now,  _ honey,” Steel-Friend said, pulling her away. “I’m sorry!”

Then they ran for the exit, normal humans, dragons, and speedsters alike.

* * *

Everything was a blur. Not in the way that it was when Sparks-Brother carried them, but like the world was whipping out of their control far too fast for them to get their claws on.

And then… And then…

Sparks-Brother took off, his lightning jumping up and off of buildings and debris as he spiralled up into the sky. The hole gaped widely at him, and Smaug shuddered. What if Sparks-Brother didn’t come back? He had before, when Redsparks-Demon had… No. That wouldn’t happen again, would it?

The dragons pressed together in a huddle, vaguely aware that Flames-Brother and Grey-Friend had disappeared and Burning-Friend had taken their place before joining Sparks-Brother in the sky.

Griffin shivered and snuggled closer to Fire-Father’s leg as a small sound of fear and horror escaped her.

It wasn’t okay.


	12. A Conflict of Interest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHH. I wasn't able to update on Saturday again! I'm sorry!
> 
> To make up for it, here's some pain for your faves.
> 
> (Also! I don't own the passage from the book that I put in here! Star Wars isn't mine!)

Griffin curled up at Cisco’s feet, making her golden-caramel body as small as was physically possible. Mushu, Vermithrax, and Smaug were all lying down around her, and Saphira was draped across Cisco’s lap. Cisco himself was calling Caitlin for the fifth time. And leaving a message just like he had for the four previous attempts.

“Hey, Cait,” he began, “I know that you’re probably not going to call be back, because you haven’t for the last four times that I’ve tried to call you. And I get it, I really do, but  _ please _ , Caitlin… Please pick up. I need to know if you’re okay.  _ Please. _ I’m your best friend, Cait. You can talk to me.”

He sighed and hung up before looking down at the five dragons that were curled up at his feet and on his lap. Mushu raised his head and chirped at him softly. Cisco nodded in agreement at whatever it was that the young green dragon had just said.

“You’re right. I  _ should _ just go over to her house and keep her company,” he said decisively, standing up (after unloading Saphira from his lap) and marching over to his kitchen, loading several packets of hot chocolate mix into a  _ Doctor Who  _ backpack and clicking his tongue for the dragons to follow him. “Come on, babies. Let’s go hang out with Caitlin.”

After sneaking downstairs and carefully avoiding all of the other residents of his apartment, Cisco and the five dragonlets made it to his car. He got it, let the five small dragons clamber across him into the passenger seat, and then smacked his head against the steering wheel several times in a row. Each time the horn blared, causing the dragonlets to jump in surprise.

Cisco buried his head in his hands. “Oh, man.”

Griffin jumped onto his legs and licked his chin. She mewled softly and bumped her horns against his lower jaw. Cisco didn’t know it, seeing as how he wasn’t able to understand her, but she was asking if he was okay and if there was anything that he could do to help.

He gently pushed her away. “I’m fine, Sweet Bean. I’m just-” Cisco sighed shakily. “How did everything go so wrong so  _ fast?  _ It was all going according to plan, and then… And then Eddie was dead and Wells was dead and there was a giant freakin’  _ hole _ in the sky and Barry and Stein almost died and then  _ Ronnie was dead _ and-”

Cisco’s voice was cut off by Griffin gently biting his finger. The small dragon was careful not to break the skin and draw blood, but bit down hard enough to draw the man’s attention. He looked down at Griffin as she rested her paw gently on his elbow.

Cisco sighed. “Let’s go, babies. Caitlin needs us right now.”

Smaug lowered his head down onto his paws as the car pulled out and they began the drive to Caitlin’s house. Saphira pressed against him nervously and mewled her fears into her brother’s ear; that their Fire-Father would leave too, that the strange awful hole in the sky would open up again and pull their family apart for a second time, that the Redsparks-Demon that had caused them so much pain and sorrow would return once more.

Smaug didn’t have any reassurances for Saphira, seeing as how he had the same worries as she did.

When they arrived at Caitlin’s house (which was, in fact, a house, instead of an apartment), Cisco knocked on the door before testing to see whether or not it was locked when there was no reply from inside. It swung open easily, and the man walked inside, followed by the five young dragons.

They pinpointed Caitlin’s location immediately, her personal scent mixed with the stale strains of their missing Flames-Brother’s and tinted with grief and sadness. Cisco followed them as they ran towards one of the rooms-the bedroom.

He rapped lightly on the closed door with his knuckles. “Caitlin?” Cisco called softly. “It’s Cisco. I’m coming inside. I hope you’re decent.”

His weak attempt at a joke fell flat as he pushed open the door and saw that his best friend was sitting in a lump of blankets and pillows in the middle of her bed. The five dragons sped by him and hopped up beside her, purring secret words of comfort in the young woman’s ear. Saphira burrowed underneath the blankets to curl up with her second favorite human. Caitlin wrapped her arms around the little blue dragon and held her close to her chest as she closed her eyes.

“What are you doing here, Cisco?” Caitlin asked softly from her blanket pile. “I know you were the one who was calling me. Although I think that a couple of them came from Barry and Iris.”

Her best friend tugged some of the blankets (the ones that covered her face) back so that he could look at her. “Yeah, it was me. Or at least five of them were.” Cisco sat down beside her. “How are you doing?” Caitlin looked at him blankly and he winced. “Sorry, I know, but it’s a standard question… I’m sorry.”

“I should have stopped him,” Caitlin whispered, looking down. Saphira’s head popped out of the blankets and licked her cheek. “I should have done  _ something. _ I thought that he was dead before, and then he wasn’t, and for a while I  _ wished  _ that he  _ were _ dead after all… But then I got him back, and even though I lost him again, I was still so, so happy, because at least he was  _ alive _ and somewhat happy. And for a day I was married-for a day I was the happiest woman in the entire world.” She let out a small sob. “This time, though, this time he isn’t going to come back.”

Cisco wrapped his arms around her and rocked her slowly back and forth as he hummed. “Shh. It’s okay. I’ve got you. It’s okay.”

Caitlin’s arms lifted out of the blankets as she grabbed his arms. She looked up at him worriedly. “Are you going to leave too?”

She sounded like a little kid that was worried about one of their siblings leaving after their parents already had. Cisco sighed and stroked her hair. “Not if I can help it.” He smiled down at her. “If I leave, who will be here to drag you outside of your comfort zone in bars? I mean, Barry or Iris  _ could _ do it, but Barry can’t even get drunk anymore, and Iris just lost her fiance. Later she might be up to going to a bar with you, but not right now.”

Caitlin sniffled as Saphira and Mushu licked her tears away. “Will you…” She blushed and dabbed at her eyes with her shirtsleeve-it looked like the one that she had slept in. “Will you stay here? Just for a little while. I don’t want you to get hurt. Is that silly? It sounds silly.”

“It’s not silly at all,” Cisco promised his best friend. “Do you want me to call Barry or Iris or someone else? We could make it a regular old sleepover.” He shrugged his backpack off of his shoulders and pulled out the packets of hot cocoa mix. “I could make hot chocolate.”

Caitlin smiled weakly at him. “I’d like that a lot. And-and you can call Barry and Iris, but I don’t want them to see me like…” She gestured to herself. “... _ This.” _

“They’ll understand,” he reassured her. “Iris probably looks like a wreck too.” _ Hell, _ Cisco thought, _ I’m barely keeping myself together.  _ “I’ll call them both.”

As Cisco wandered back out into the hallway to call his friends, Caitlin looked down at the dragons. All five of them had chosen to remain in the room with her, something that she was silently grateful for. Saphira purred comfortingly as she cuddled closer to the woman. The contented noise sent vibrations humming throughout Caitlin’s entire body, and as the other dragons snuggled closer (even Vermithrax, although he did so reluctantly), their combined purring almost seemed to shake the room. But that wasn’t _really_ possible, although it was a nice thought when you were surrounded by potentially dangerous animals.

Cisco stuck his head back in the room. “Barry and Iris are on their way. Um, I told Barry to pick up waffles or pancakes or something, because I assume that you haven’t eaten anything yet today.”

Caitlin nodded and hugged her knees to her chest. “Cisco?”

“Hmm?” He looked at her.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “For everything.”

Cisco grinned at her, although there was weariness and pain and grief swirling behind it. “Don’t mention it. Anything for my best friend.” He helped her to her feet. “C’mon. Barry’ll be here soon, and I gave Iris your address, so you’re going to have some guests soon. Do you want me to clean up a little bit? You should probably take a shower or something.”

She nodded and looked down at the dragons at her feet. “Thanks for bringing them, too.”

“Of course.” Someone knocked on the door. “That’s probably Barry. I’ll get it. You can shower if you want to.” Caitlin looked at him. “What? It’s healthy and hygienic. You should do it.”

Cisco jogged for the door as the bell rang repeatedly, Barry obviously having given up on the knocking. “I’m coming!” He called as he opened the door. “You didn’t have to ring the doorbell so many times.”

Barry smiled at him sheepishly and held up a white plastic bag. “Sorry. I brought waffles.” He peered over Cisco’s shoulder into the house. “How’s Caitlin holding up?”

“Not that well,” Cisco admitted. “It’s worse than it was before, when we thought that Ronnie had died in the particle accelerator explosion. At least then she had something to distract herself; helping me and-and Dr. Wells keep you alive while you were in a coma. This time, though…”

Barry nodded and squeezed around him just as Cisco heard the sound of water running. “Is she in the shower?”

“Yeah. She needed it.” Cisco shut the door and then looked down as Smaug stuck his red scaly head in between his legs. “Hey, Cheeseburger buddy.”

Barry bounced from foot to foot nervously. “Uh, I’m just gonna run this to the kitchen before she can get out of the shower.”

Cisco narrowed his eyes as his friend whooshed away with a crackle of yellow sparks. Smaug chirped and tilted his head to one side in confusion as Cisco bit his lower lip. “Come on, bud. Let’s go wait for Caitlin to get out of the shower and change into something else.”

Barry and Cisco sat in silence across from each other at Caitlin’s kitchen table.Barry coughed into his fist. “So, uh, did Caitlin say anything to you before you called me?”

His friend shook his head and frowned slightly. “Not really, just some stuff about how much she missed Ronnie and how upset she was compared to what happened when he merged with Professor Stein. Why?”

Barry’s shoulder’s slumped as Smaug hopped up into his lap. “No reason.”

Cisco eyed him in confusion before shrugging. Barry was probably just worried about Caitlin, and probably Iris too. Cisco knew that  _ he _ certainly was.

Caitlin walked into the kitchen, wearing a fresh set of what she considered pajamas (a too-big shirt and flannel pants patterned with little snowflakes). She smiled nervously at Barry and then reached for a waffle. Cisco slid the butter across the table to her-Ronnie had once told him that she liked her pancakes and waffles with syrup and butter. It  _ was _ a surprisingly tasty combination.

As she sat down and started spreading butter on her late breakfast, Saphira lay down at the woman’s feet and burbled happily. The trio ate in silence for a while, Barry managing to hold himself back from the colossal pile of waffles that he had brought over until Caitlin and Cisco had eaten their meager fill. Then he attacked it ravenously. Cisco only managed to sneak two and a half away from him to slip underneath the table for the five dragons to divide up amongst themselves.

As soon as the waffles were entirely gone, Barry jumped to his feet. “I’ll go get a movie or something set up. Any suggestions?”

Cisco and Caitlin looked at each other. 

“ _ The Breakfast Club, _ ” they said in unison. Cisco smiled and gathered up the plates before sticking them in the sink. He’d make Barry wash them at superspeed later. 

He held out his hand to Caitlin and helped her to her feet. “My lady.”

She accepted it and he silently let her to the couch. Griffin, Vermithrax, and Mushu instantly crawled up on top of him, while Smaug tugged at Barry’s shoelaces as he got the movie set up and Saphira curled up like a cat next to Caitlin.

Midway through the movie, around the time that the characters start running through the school to get the drugs away from their principal so that they won’t be sent back to detention, Iris arrived. She quietly joined them on the couch on Barry’s other side (they were arranged in the order of Caitlin, Cisco, Barry, and now Iris, with the dragons spread out among them).

When the movie was over, Cisco coerced Barry into putting in  _ Goonies, _ because “None of the metahumans wanted to watch it, not even Shawna, so we had to watch  _ Mean Girls _ instead. So I haven’t seen it as recently as I should have.”

They ended up watching it, as well as several other movies in a row with little to no breaks in between. Then, just before Iris and Cisco managed to convince Barry to set up  _ Terminator 2: Judgement Day,  _ Barry suddenly apologized to Caitlin out of nowhere.

“I’m sorry, Caitlin.” She looked at him in confusion, and he elaborated. “I know that you blame me for not saving or stopping Ronnie, and I’m really,  _ really _ sorry. I know that that won’t bring him back to life, but-”

“What?” Caitlin interrupted him. “I don’t blame you. I mean, for a little while I did, but… Not anymore. I stopped when I realized that you couldn’t have done anything. I know you tried to help him, Barry. I forgive you. I don’t blame you.”

Barry stared at her. “You-you don’t?”   


Iris stood up and pulled him onto the couch, sandwiching him in between her and Cisco once again. Smaug purred and licked his face as Vermithrax snuggled up even closer to Iris, glaring at his siblings as if he were warning them not to taunt him about his clear affection for the young woman.

“No, I don’t,” Caitlin assured him.

Cisco looked back and forth between the two. “You shouldn’t blame yourselves, either. Neither of you should. This, all of this…” He paused and shook his head. “It’s all Eobard Thawne’s fault. He’s the one who did all of this. Killed Eddie and Ronnie and Barry’s mom and me in that alternate timeline, crippled Mushu and replaced the original Harrison Wells and killed Simon Stagg and Mason Bridge. Everyone that got hurt by the particle accelerator or by the singularity, anybody who he might have hurt in the future, all of it. It’s his fault.”

He didn’t say a word about how, as someone who might have been a metahuman, he might have been evil too.

* * *

Mushu perched on the windowsill of Fire-Father’s Home Lair, balanced easily on the small space. He could hardly see the stars, the strange lights from the lairs around them drowning out the small pinpricks of light. He could, however, see the moon, which hung like a thin clawscratch in the dark night sky. As Mushu watched, a thin cloud blew across its path.

_ “Why are you looking at the sky?”  _ Vermithrax asked from behind him.  _ “There’s nothing to look at.” _

_ “I’m not looking,”  _ Mushu replied, not turning away from the city before him.  _ “I’m thinking. While looking.” _

Vermithrax snorted.  _ “Well, what are you thinking about?” _

_ “Question-Brother.”  _ Mushu tried to spread his mangled wings, but the bandages as well as the pain that accompanied his attempt stopped him from completing the action. _ “And how I couldn’t save him. Not when Redsparks-Demon had us trapped down underneath The Loop, and not when he… Not when he tried to stop Redsparks-Demon once and for all.” _

_ “But he succeeded,”  _ Vermithrax pointed out.  _ “Redsparks-Demon will never be able to hurt our family ever again. That’s because of Question-Brother.” _

Mushu’s shoulders slumped down. He wrapped his tail around his paws and bowed his head.  _ “Rain-Sister lost her mate because I failed to protect Question-Brother. Fire-Father, Snow-Sister, and Sparks-Brother may not have been very close to him, but they’re still grieving. And I don’t even know what he was to Steel-Friend… But he was still sad. He tried to stop Question-Brother, tried to keep him alive. I tried too, but I think that I just hurt him even more.” _

Vermithrax stayed silent from behind his brother, shifting from paw to paw before sighing as his grey scaled tail drooped.  _ “We can’t bring him back. Humans can’t do that. They break too easily. The only thing that we can do is keep the rest of our family safe. At least, because of Question-Brother, Redsparks-Demon can’t hurt them anymore.” _

_ “But that isn’t enough!”  _ Mushu hissed angrily as he spun around. He jumped down to the floor and started advancing on his larger grey brother. Mushu started to slowly circle around Vermithrax.  _ “It’s not enough! There are other threats, other dangers besides Redsparks-Demon! Golden-Enemy, Iceshard-Enemy, Blistering-Enemy, Green-Enemy, and all of the others that escaped when Sparks-Brother asked Iceshard-Enemy for help! What if they come back? We won’t be able to protect Fire-Father, Snow-Sister, Sparks-Brother, Steel-Friend, or Rain-Sister forever, will we?” _

_ “We’ll try,”  _ Vermithrax snarled, hackles raising as he started circling as well.  _ “We’ll keep them as safe as we can. And if they get hurt, then that means that we failed. And that we’ll have to do better next time. But we won’t let anyone else die. Human  _ or _ dragon.” _

Mushu closed his eyes and stopped getting ready to attack his brother. He sighed as a wave of pain rolled through his shredded wings.  _ “I failed, though. I let Question-Brother die.” _

_ “No,”  _ Vermithrax insisted as his hackles lowered,  _ “he let himself die. And he died to save Sparks-Brother, Snow-Sister, Rain-Sister, Steel-Friend, Grey-Friend, Flames-Brother… And Fire-Father.” _

_ “But Flames-Brother died anyways,” _ Mushu pointed out. _ “And now Grey-Friend is missing the other half of Burning-Friend, both Rain-Sister  _ and _ Snow-Sister have lost their mates, and Sparks-Brother and Fire-Father have lost their friends.” _

Vermithrax padded forwards and licked his brother’s cheek in a rare show of affection towards anybody other than Rain-Sister or Fire-Father.  _ “We can’t change the fact that they’re dead, no matter how much we want to,”  _ he mewed softly to Mushu.  _ “But we can make sure that the other humans don’t follow in their footsteps.” _

From across the room underneath something similar to a blue blanket with white and black markings that Fire-Father sometimes wore almost like clothing, Griffin’s head popped up. She was sitting on Fire-Father’s lap as the human read out loud, something about a war in the stars. None of the dragons knew if he meant the stars in the sky or a war that took place inside of the Star Lair.

_ “You’re both right,”  _ Griffin chirped to her two brothers.  _ “Question-Brother and Flames-Brother gone and we can’t get them back. And one day, we might lose someone else, too. But right now, we have to keep protecting them. And make sure that nothing like what happened before ever happens again.” _

Mushu and Vermithrax both nodded to her. From beside Griffin and Fire-Father, Saphira and Smaug raised their heads up off of the strange blue blanket thing. Smaug yawned.  _ “Agreed, Griffin-Sister. We can’t let the humans get hurt again.” _

Fire-Father kept reading. “Leia shoved her chair back, instantly leaping to her feet. ‘We have to get out of here,’ she said to the startled senators at the table. ‘Now. Go!’

But they didn’t move, even as she dashed toward the door. Varish said, ‘Leia? What in the world's-’

‘Didn’t you hear me?’ Damn fools who had never been in the war, who didn’t know an urgent warning when they got one. Leia held up the paper so they could see it. ‘Run! Everyone get up and run!’”

* * *

Smaug padded back and forth in the main room of the Star Lair, tail flicking slowly back and forth. Sparks-Brother had needed Snow-Sister and Fire-Father’s help with the latest enemy, who seemed to be able to disappear from sight whenever she pleased. Because the dragons couldn’t get close enough to smell her, they didn’t know if she was able to shield herself from them, too. And Fire-Father hadn’t wanted to risk it, something that Snow-Sister and Sparks-Brother both agreed with.

Rain-Sister, however, had stayed behind to direct Sparks-Brother from away from the scene. She was currently standing in the strange main room that the humans called ‘the Cortex’. Another one of their silly human names.

Smaug sneezed and turned around to walk away down into the hallways. Sometimes he liked to go down into The Loop alone, to look at the strange empty boxes to see if they suddenly held Redsparks-Demon once again. To see if Question-Brother’s and Flames-Brother’s deaths had been bad dreams. To see if they still had a chance to warn the humans before everything went so, so wrong.

That was when he smelled it.

It was a familiar scent, bitter and sour and  _ bad.  _ It scared Smaug.

He’d only smelled it once before.

Smaug’s hackles raised and he growled as he turned towards the source of the smell.  _ “Green-Enemy.” _

The medium sized red dragon sprinted down the hallways towards where he knew the human man must have been. There were several other scents hanging around him, but Smaug payed them no attention. It made sense that Green-Enemy would have other smells hanging around him; the scents of people that he had been near, the scent of acrid smoke that was a part of his personal smell, and others. Smaug didn’t care about those. All that mattered was making sure that Green-Enemy hadn’t come back to take Sparks-Brother or even Fire-Father away.

_ “Vermithrax-Brother!”  _ Smaug yowled as he ran down through the narrow corridors.  _ “Vermithrax-Brother, you have to keep Rain-Sister hidden! Don’t let Green-Enemy take her, too!” _

He knew that any one of his brothers and sisters would protect the human woman, but Vermithrax was the most accomplished fighter as well as the largest out of all of them. Vermithrax also held the most affection for her, which would help.

Smaug charged into the room where Green-Enemy’s scent was the strongest-and then stopped in his tracks. Instead of only seeing Green-Enemy, the red dragon saw several other humans fanned out behind him, all of them holding weapons. One of them had a cage in their hands, and Smaug bared his teeth as he imagined Griffin or Mushu being shoved inside of it.

That was when Green-Enemy pointed directly at Smaug.

“There’s one of them, men. Bring it to me,” he ordered. “Alive.”

Smaug’s ears pinned back and he turned to run, but one of Green-Enemy’s friends scooped him up in a net before he could make it back out the door.

Smaug started thrashing, clawing at the net with his talons, but his struggling only made him more entangled. He tried breathing fire, but only succeeded in making a small trickle of smoke rise out of his nostrils. The dragon yowled and twisted in the ropes frantically. (He didn’t know it, but nothing would have happened to the net even if he had succeeded in breathing fire for the first time. The net was fireproof.)

From across the Star Lair, Vermithrax lifted his head. The large grey dragonlet had heard his smaller brother’s cry to protect Rain-Sister (as well as his siblings), and he had planted himself at the door of the room with a silent vow not to let anybody pass.

But… Now his brother was in trouble.

Vermithrax looked over his shoulder at Rain-Sister, who was looking out the door over his head nervously. She took a step forwards and Vermithrax blocked her foot with his body.

_ “No, Rain-Sister. You stay here.”  _ Vermithrax looked at Saphira, Griffin, and Mushu, who were all tensed and ready to run out the door at a moment’s notice.  _ “You three watch her and make sure that she doesn’t leave.” _

Vermithrax turned and bounded out into the hallway, following Smaug’s scent as he ran.

When he made it into one of the rooms, it became mixed with Green-Enemy’s familiar scent as well as several more unfamiliar smells. Smaug’s own scent trail suddenly tained with the sharp sour smell of terror, and Vermithrax snarled.

Green-Enemy had taken his brother. Which meant that Vermithrax needed to find away to get him back.

* * *

Smaug threw himself against the bars of the too-small cage that Green-Enemy’s lackey had tossed him into. He hissed and arched his spine when Green-Enemy bent down and put his face close to the bars. Smaug lashed out with one of his front paws, talons just barely missing the tip of Green-Enemy’s nose. Green-Enemy laughed.

“I  _ was _ just looking to get Mr. Allen after he came back from fighting Ms. Reynolds, seeing as how there hasn’t been a hint of Harrison Wells since that giant hole opened up in the sky. The one that, coincidentally, seemed to first open up right above STAR Labs. But I figured that I would be able to grab at least one of you creatures on the way.” Green-Enemy paused. “I remember you. You were the one with Mr. Ramon.”

Smaug snarled.  _ “Leave Fire-Father and Sparks-Brother alone.” _

Green-Enemy shook his head wonderingly. “I wonder what I could do with you. The scientific advancements that I could make.”

Smaug yelped in surprise as the cage that he was in was lifted up and he momentarily lost his balance, paws slipping out from underneath him as he crashed painfully into the side of the cage.  _ “Put me down!” _

Green-Enemy turned to one of the other humans, still carrying Smaug. “Gentlemen, it’s time for us to go. Who knows how long the Flash will be distracted by Ms. Reynolds.”

Smaug flattened himself to the bottom of the cage and closed his eyes tightly.  _ “Please come for me.” _

* * *

Caitlin bent over the computer, trying to access the security camera footage from when Smaug had been taken. None of them knew who had stolen the young dragon from right out from under their noses (well, right out from under Iris’s nose, but Caitlin wasn’t going to blame the other woman), but Barry was out scouring the city.

The Snart siblings and possibly Mick Rory were their prime suspects, of course, although the escaped metahumans weren’t exactly far behind. Cisco had already contacted Shawna Baez to see if the other Pipeline prisoners had tried to make contact with her. The answer was ‘no’; the only one who knew that she was a metahuman that had tried to talk to her was Cisco himself.

Despite all of that, Caitlin was the only member of the team who was actually currently searching.

Cisco was at home, trying to protect the remaining dragonlets from whoever had taken Smaug. Barry was at work, because apparently a lot of people had/still were committing crimes because of the singularity. A lot of people, when faced with what appeared to be judgement day or the apocalypse, decided that now was a good time to commit a multitude of crimes. As such, the police station (which included Joe) had its hands full. Iris was at Joe’s house mourning Eddie’s death.

So Caitlin was the only one looking, something that afforded her a necessary distraction from the fact that Ronnie was dead-really dead this time.

Caitlin sighed and checked her watch. It was only 10:30, but she hadn’t been sleeping well lately, her dreams full of flames streaming down to earth and a gaping endless hole in the sky above her.

The woman shook her head and twisted the ring on her finger. She couldn’t bear to take it off, to admit to herself that her fiance-that her  _ husband _ was dead. Truly dead.

Grabbing her coat, Caitlin turned around and walked out of STAR Labs towards her car. The bracelet around her wrist, a gift from Cisco after Eobard Thawne kidnapped Eddie and Mushu. It looked simple enough, engraved with snowflakes and flowers, but it contained a tracker that Cisco could trace in case anybody kidnapped her. Cisco and Iris both had a similar one.

Before Caitlin reached the car, she heard a  _ click _ from behind her and froze. An unfamiliar male voice spoke up. “Put your hands behind your head, Dr. Snow.”

She did as she was asked, heart jumping in her throat. Someone grabbed her wrists and clipped them together with handcuffs. Caitlin was marched forwards toward a large white van that she  _ should  _ have noticed didn’t belong in the STAR Labs parking lot, had she not been lost in her thoughts.

As she was pushed inside of the van, she got her first look at her captor. Of course, that didn’t give her any clues as to why they were taking her, because she didn’t recognize their face, but it might help later if- _ when  _ she escaped or was rescued. The man pushed her back up against the wall and climbed in as well, using a second set of handcuffs to tie her ankles together.

The men pulled out a gun (she didn't know if it was the same one that he had threatened her with) and pointed it at her before looking Caitlin dead in the eyes. “Ms. Snow,” he said evenly, “you are under arrest.”

Caitlin bit back the protest that she hadn’t been read her Miranda Rights. Instead, she started to think. Why would the police-or the military-or whoever these people worked for-want to take her? She didn’t think that she had ever broken any significant laws. Maybe it was a metahuman, then, one with mind control powers or connections with the government. Which meant that this was probably connected to the Flash.

Who knew Barry’s secret identity?

Of course. Why else would the military or the government take her (besides the eventual discovery of the fact that they had been using the empty Pipeline as a prison)?

Eiling.

* * *

Smaug whimpered and curled up to the best of his ability in the tiny cold cage. He was hungry and thirsty and scared of what might happen to him and he wanted to go home.

Smaug didn’t know where he was. Green-Enemy had ordered one of the other bad men to put the cage that he was trapped inside of down in a cold damp room. It was dark, too, although that didn’t really bother the dragon very much. He naturally had excellent night vision, after all. But he didn’t know how long he had been trapped in there, either, although it felt like forever.

That was when Green-Enemy opened the door. Harsh white light spilled into the room, and Smaug screwed up his eyes. Excellent vision came with a downside.

Green-Enemy nodded and gestured to the woman who was standing behind him. She stepped forwards and picked up the cage, carrying it into a large room with a flat metal table in the middle. Smaug tried to jab her with his claws through the bars, but his talons couldn’t reach all of the way through.

The woman set the cage down on the center of the table, and Smaug shivered as the cold metal touched his red scales through the bars on the floor of the cage. Green-Enemy walked over to the table and leaned down over the cage. Smaug shrank back in fear. He didn’t want to believe that Green-Enemy would do anything  _ too _ terrible to him, but the dragon knew that humans and demons could be cruel and terrible and awful sometimes.

“Don’t worry,” Green-Enemy said with a smirk. “I won’t kill you. We need you alive, at least for now.”

Something sharp and painful pricked one of Smaug’s hindquarters, and he whipped around in the cage, muzzle banging uncomfortably against the wall of the metal container. A man leaned away, a syringe full of blood,  _ Smaug’s _ blood, in his hand. The red dragon bared his teeth angrily at the stranger, who ignored his obvious discomfort.

Green-Enemy stepped away and picked something up; a pair of some sort of tool. Fire-Father used them when he wanted to bend something that he was building. Vermithrax had tried to steal them for their ametuer hoard before. It had never worked for long and Fire-Father would take them back before the day was over. But what would Green-Enemy be doing with them…?

That was when Green-Enemy stepped forwards and set the pinchy part of the tool against the tip of one of Smaug’s scarlet scales, gripped down, and  _ pulled. _

Pain exploded along Smaug’s flank and he howled in agony, trying to twist away but unable to escape from the tiny cage. White spots danced in front of his eyes and he tried to bite his way through the bars in an attempt to sink his teeth into Green-Enemy’s flesh.

No, no, no, no, he wanted to go  _ home.  _ He didn’t want to be here, where Green-Enemy could hurt him. What if Green-Enemy took any of his siblings away along with him? What if he went back to the Star Lair and took Fire-Father? And he had already said that he wanted to take Sparks-Brother away, hadn’t he? Green-Enemy could take any of them away, take any of them and hurt them the same way that he was hurting Smaug.

Blood trickled down the dragon’s scales and he whimpered in pain. He just wanted to go  _ home _ .

That was when a man ran into the room, something that Smaug was grateful for. Maybe Green-Enemy would be too distracted to hurt him any more than he already had.

“Sir?” The man said nervously. “Sir, we weren’t able to get the speedster or the engineer, but we got the woman. Uh, a Dr. Caitlin Snow? We managed to get her instead.”

For a moment Green-Enemy looked angry, and then a smile spread across his features. “We may be able to work this in our favor after all.” He looked at the other human man. “While I would have  _ prefered  _ that you have brought me the Flash”-the man gulped in fear as Green-Enemy continued to speak-“I supposed that I can overlook your failure. You didn’t even know it, but you took someone very, very valuable. With her, he can get both the Flash  _ and _ FIRESTORM in one go.”

Smaug stiffened. No, no, no, no,  _ no!  _ They  _ couldn’t’ve  _ taken Snow-Sister! Sparks-Brother and Fire-Father and Snow-Sister herself would  _ never  _ have let someone as bad as Green-Enemy take her away!

The other human looked relieved. “Would you like me to bring her to you now, sir?”

“Yes. Mostly unharmed, if possible, although threaten her if she attempts to escape.” Green-Enemy nodded and then looked at Smaug. “She may even be able to tell us more about this… Dragon.”

The man nodded and marched away. Green-Enemy turned to fully look back at Smaug. The smallish red dragon growled weakly. He couldn’t let Green-Enemy see how scared he was. He couldn’t let them hurt Snow-Sister. Smaug stiffened. But what if they already had? What if she was seriously hurt, the way that Sparks-Brother sometimes was when he came back from wearing the red?

What if she was dead?

No, no, that wasn’t true, she couldn’t be dead. Green-Enemy wanted her ‘mostly unharmed’, so he obviously hadn’t killed her. And hopefully he still wouldn’t.

That was when Snow-Sister herself was forced into the room.

She glared at Green-Enemy furiously before her eyes alighted on Smaug’s form and widened in horror. “What did you do to him?!” She demanded. Snow-Sister tried to throw herself toward the young dragon only to be jerked back by the man who was holding her arms behind her back. “He’s just a baby! What are you doing to him?!”

Green-Enemy stepped forwards and nodded to the man who was holding Snow-Sister back. He released her and the human woman tried to run to Smaug’s side once again only to be grabbed roughly by Green-Enemy. “Calm down, Dr. Snow. We won’t kill it.”

“That doesn’t make what you’re doing any better!” Snow-Sister shouted at him. “You’re hurting him!”

Green-Enemy pulled her away. “It’s for the sake of scientific advancement. Surely you can understand that, Dr. Snow-or is it Dr. Raymond now?” He tapped the sparkly that she wore around her finger. “How  _ is  _ FIRESTORM, anyways?”

Snow-Sister stayed silent for a moment as she took a deep breath. “He’s dead,” she finally spat out. “He-he and Martin Stein died when the singularity opened. And it’s  _ still  _ Caitlin Snow.”

Green-Enemy scoffed. “You expect me to believe that?”

He threw Snow-Sister onto the floor, and Smaug screeched angrily.  _ “Leave her alone! Stop hurting her!” _

Snow-Sister groaned and rolled over onto her side. She raised her head up off of the floor and glared icily up at Green-Enemy. “I’m telling the truth. If you don’t want to believe me, fine. But it’s true. FIRESTORM’s dead-they died in the singularity. So if you want to use me as bait for them, go right ahead. Just know that you aren’t going to catch anything.”

“Oh, I very much doubt that, Dr. Snow.” Green-Enemy hauled her roughly to her feet. “Because even if FIRESTORM doesn’t show up, Mr. Allen will.” He paused and smirked at Snow-Sister, who shuddered. “I’ve wanted to test the limits of his healing and regenerative abilities since he first showed up nine months after the particle accelerator explosion at STAR Labs.”

Snow-Sister looked at him in horror. “You’re sick.”

Green-Enemy shook his head, and Smaug cringed back. “No, I’m trying to help people. Metahumans and your friend Francisco’s dragons have potential. Potential that could be harnessed for medical use, for industrial use, and, of course, for military use. It is selfish for them to use it only for themselves. I just want to help people, Dr. Snow. Surely you, as a doctor and a scientist, can understand that?”

Snow-Sister shook her head disbelievingly. “I don’t-how can you…”

She trailed off and stared at Green-Enemy in horror. Smaug hissed at him and shivered when the man turned to look at him before glancing back at Snow-Sister. “So, Dr. Snow.” Green-Enemy dragged Snow-Sister closer to the table and to Smaug’s cage. “What can you tell me about these creatures?”

“I’m not going to tell you anything,” Snow-Sister spat furiously.

Green-Enemy shook his head. “I was really hoping that it wouldn’t come to this, Dr. Snow.”

He signalled to one of the other men that stood in front of the door. The stepped forwards and grabbed Snow-Sister’s upper arms before bodily dragging her out of the room. Smaug yowled in horror and tried to push himself through the gaps in between the bars of the cage to no avail.  _ “No! Don’t do that! Bring her back! Snow-Sister!” _

Smaug didn’t think to notice that the clasp on Snow-Sister’s bracelet had broken from her nervous fiddling, or that it had fallen into the small pool of his blood mixed with water on the floor. And even if he had noticed, it’s not like he would have known that it was the same bracelet that held the (now slightly damaged) tracker.

* * *

Caitlin gritted her teeth and glared at Eiling. Her hands were handcuffed to the table in front of her, and her ankles were tied to the table legs. Eiling was sitting across from her, acting like he hadn’t just spoken about torturing her friends and doing inhumane experiments on living, conscious subjects. Like he hadn’t just kidnapped her and then thrown her onto the ground because she told him the truth. Or at least part of it, seeing as how Martin Stein was very much alive.

Caitlin could still feel Smaug’s sticky blood on her wrists where her cuffed hands had fallen into the small puddle of it on the floor.

(When she blinked, she could see the small dragon huddled in the too small cage, one of his fire engine red scales lying on a white towel splashed with scarlet, outlined on the inside of her eyelids.)

“Now, Dr. Snow,” Eiling began, and Caitlin wished that she could punch him. “Let’s start out simple. What are you willing to tell me about your friend Mr. Allen?”

“He got his powers from the particle accelerator explosion,” Caitlin recited, “and he can go so fast that he’s broken the sound barrier on numerous occasions. He likes pizza and once ate twelve in one sitting. His last name is Allen. He-”

Caitlin’s eye burst with pain, and her head snapped back as Eiling punched her in the face. She automatically jerked her hands up to cup her eye, but her hands stopped short when the cuffs pulled them down again. Caitlin winced in pain as the metal from the cuffs dug into her wrist even more than it already had been.

Eiling leaned back in his chair. “What can you tell me about Mr. Allen’s powers?” He repeated. “Or, more specifically, how to negate them. I have a few more copies of the toy that I stopped him with last time, but they’re difficult to use more than once each.”

Caitlin glared at him even though it send pain arching through her bruised eye. “I’m not going to tell you anything.”

Eiling stood up and looked at her evenly with his hands behind his back. “We’ll have to see about that, Dr. Snow. Everyone has a breaking point. I just have to find yours.”

Caitlin bit her lip but didn’t say anything. Eiling seemed to take that as a good sign, and he signalled to the man who stood just inside of the door carrying a large gun.

The man stiffened. “Sir?”

“Evans, tell me what you know about the dragon in examination room 3B.” Eiling ordered.

The man blinked in confusion. “Um, okay. Uh… Not much, really. I didn’t even know that it was officially classified as a ‘dragon,’ sir.”

“Exactly. Now, will you bring it in here for me?” Eiling crossed his arms. “I want Dr. Snow here to see what happens when she tries to stay defiant.” Caitlin stiffened, and then Eiling smirked. “Actually, I think we should try something else.”

He pulled the keys to Caitlin’s cuffs and locked them, doing her ankles first before unlocking the ones around her wrists. She immediately cupped her hand over her black eye before pulling it back when her fingers touched tender flesh. Before she could rub at the raw skin around her wrists, Eiling forced her hands behind her back. The general marched her out of the room past the young man and then down the hall.

As he marched her, Caitlin heard a low snarl coming from the same room that she knew that Smaug had been behind earlier-she recognized the door. The woman couldn’t hide her relief at the fact that the young dragon seemed to be alive, at least for now.

That was when Eiling opened a door, sending out a blast of cold air that washed over Caitlin like a wave. He shoved her forwards and Caitlin tripped over her own feet, landing sprawled on her stomach inside of what felt like a freezer. She rolled over onto her back and looked up at Eiling. He narrowed his eyes down at her. “I’ll let you out once you feel up to talking. Maybe a few hours in a fridge will loosen up your tongue a bit more.”

Then he slammed the door shut, leaving Caitlin in freezing cold darkness.

She fumbled along the wall and managed to stand up on weak knees before leaning back and folding herself up into one of the corners.

The cold wasn’t bothering her as much as it should have. That was one of the earliest stages of hypothermia, but she hadn’t been in the freezer for nearly long enough for it to have that harsh of an affect on her. Maybe there was something wrong with the cooling system?

Caitlin sighed and rubbed her shoulders. Whatever the problem was that was allowing her to stay far warmer than she should’ve, she wasn’t exactly going to complain. Let Eiling think that she was freezing to death-she would  _ never _ tell him  _ anything _ that would allow him to hurt Barry, Cisco, Professor Stein, herself, or any of the five dragonlets. No matter what.

The doctor wondered how much of her confidence was false bravado and how much of it would remain once Eiling started to actually try to make her talk.

Caitlin closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall behind her. It seemed like she would be here for a while.

After what seemed like forever, the door opened once again, and Eiling dragged her out of the frigid room. Caitlin glared at him angrily as he dragged her once more into the room that Smaug had been in before. He grabbed her chin and twisted her neck, forcing the woman to look at the table that still held the cage containing the small red dragon.

To Caitlin’s horror, several other scales had joined the first one on the white towel. Smaug was hunched up in the small cage, trembling in pain and fear. As Caitlin let out a quiet sound of sadness and anger, he looked up, eyes wide as his horns banged against the roof of the metal cage.

Eiling signalled to one of the masked men and women standing beside the table. They stepped forwards holding a syringe, which they proceeded to fill with Smaug’s blood. The dragon didn’t so much as twitch in response, still maintaining eye contact with Caitlin. She winced upon seeing how hopeful he was that she would be able to escape and free him.

Here, at last, was a chance to learn more about the dragon’s anatomy. And now that it had come, she wished that it hadn’t.

Eiling looked back at Caitlin, and she clenched her hands into fists. He smirked once again at her small show of defiance. “Dr. Snow, do you think that these creatures understand us?”

“Yes. They do. They dream and they hope and they communicate with each other, and they  _ certainly  _ feel pain,” Caitlin snapped. “Can’t you see that?”

Eiling shook his head. “This, all of this, is in the goal of scientific advancement. Now that Harrison Wells is gone, I’m free to find the metahumans that the particle accelerator created. And who’s to say that these  _ dragons _ aren’t? How do you know that they don’t have powers, too? That’s what I intend to find out. I want to know if I can harness their abilities, create soldiers that can fly, that have claws and razor-sharp teeth, soldiers that can breath fire. Your friend’s little dragon, as small as it may be, holds the key to revolutionary leaps forward. It might even be more useful than FIRESTORM, in the long run.”

“You’re disgusting,” Caitlin spat. “You’re selfish and sick and twisted.”

Eiling shook his head. “I just want to make the United States more powerful than ever. Is that a crime?”

“No. But human experimentation, animal abuse, and kidnapping all are,” she snapped back angrily. Did Eiling really think that the ends justified the means in this situation?

The general shook his head. “I was hoping that you wouldn’t think like that,” he sighed. Eiling looked back at the same man that had just drawn blood from Smaug. “Get the dragon out of its cage and bring it down to one of the interrogation rooms.” He curled his lip at Caitlin. “We’ll see if we can’t get you to talk some other way, Dr. Snow.”

* * *

Smaug growled weakly at the man who was carrying him down the dark hallway. His entire body hurt, and even though he was out of the cage he was still too weak to attack the person who was carrying him. Smaug didn’t want to escape without Snow-Sister, anyways. Who knew what Green-Enemy would do to her considering what he had done to hurt Smaug? At least she was alive. Green-Enemy had brought her into the room that Smaug was in at the same time that he had told the human that was carrying him to take him away.

The dragon’s stomach made a small growling noise. He hadn’t eaten since the morning of the day that he was captured. How long ago had that been? Not very long, hopefully, but long enough that Smaug’s stomach was panging with hunger and he was very,  _ very  _ thirsty.

The human carrying him pushed open a door, and Smaug caught Snow-Sister’s fearful scent mixed with Green-Enemy’s triumphant and cruel one. Whoever was holding him dropped him down onto yet another cold table, and Smaug yelped in pain and surprise as his wing smacked against the metal.

Before he could blink, a gloved hand had wrapped itself around his mouth, holding his jaws shut. Smaug growled in discomfort and tried to pry the fingers free with his talons, but his front legs were grabbed as well and yanked out from underneath him. The red dragon scrabbled at the table with his hind paws and tried to find a foothold, but then his hind legs were grabbed too, this time by Green-Enemy.

As Smaug squirmed in their grasps, the hand around his mouth was removed and he immediately tried to bite the other fingers. But before his teeth could make contact with human flesh, something else wrapped around his muzzle. However, it was  _ much _ more painful than the hand had been, and the sharp edges dug into his scales. Smaug whimpered as Snow-Sister made an angry noise.

“What are you doing?” She hissed at Green-Enemy.

“I don’t want him making any noise,” the human answered back carelessly. Green-Enemy looked at the door. “Smith, Jackson, bring it in.”

Smaug heard instead of saw the door opening once again. But he did see and smell two new humans stepping forwards, wheeling something in front of them. Smaug could hear water sloshing around inside of what looked like a clear bucket. The red dragon blinked in confusion. He was thirsty, but he wasn’t  _ that  _ thirsty. And he doubted that Green-Enemy would let him drink any of it. Maybe it was meant for Snow-Sister?

That was when Smaug felt someone roughly pick him back up (Green-Enemy and the other human had set him back down onto the cold table when they had wrapped the bad painful thing around his jaws) and carry him over to the bucket thing. Smaug tried to ask what they were doing, but he could barely make any noise around the thing that they had put around his scaly muzzle.

Then he was being plunged down into the clear bucket box thing full of water and held there.

Smaug twisted and tried to tear free of the hands that held him pinned underneath the water, but didn’t manage to do anything more than make the person who was holding him down grip his wings even harder.

Finally Smaug was lifted up out of the water, but only after he stopped struggling. Water streamed off of his limp body, and Smaug could just barely hear Snow-Sister screaming at Green-Enemy through the liquid that clogged his ears.

“Stop it!” Snow-Sister shouted. “You’re killing him!”

Whatever else she said was lost as Smaug was shoved back underwater again.

When he was hauled back up for a second time, Snow-Sister sounded hysterical. “Put him down! Leave him alone! He’s just a baby, what are you doing?! Stop it!”

Smaug could hazily see Green-Enemy looking at Snow-Sister coldly. “Then perhaps you would like to take its place, Dr. Snow?”

For a moment Snow-Sister froze, looking utterly terrified. Then she gritted her teeth, stuck out her jaw, and raised her chin. “If you stop hurting him, then yes. I will.”

Green-Enemy looked caught off guard. But only for a heartbeat, and then he picked up the bucket thing of water and dumped it on Snow-Sister’s head. Her mouth opened in surprise, and then he grabbed her arms and yanked them back behind her back.

Smaug snapped pitifully at him. Green-Enemy ignored the dragon’s weak attempts at intimidation and glared at Snow-Sister. “I think I should take you back to the freezer cell. Maybe another hour or so inside of it will encourage you to talk more.”

Snow-Sister looked at Smaug as she was dragged out of the room once again. Her mouth formed words that even Smaug’s sharp dragon ears couldn’t pick up. He didn’t know that she was apologizing for being unable to save him. Apologizing for what she might be forced to tell Green-Enemy.

But all that Smaug knew was that Green-Enemy was dragging Snow-Sister away to what he had called the ‘freezer cell.’ The dragon knew what freezers were-Fire-Father had one and so did Snow-Sister herself. Although theirs weren’t  _ nearly  _ big enough to fit a whole person inside of them. Maybe Green-Enemy had a special kind, one large enough for Snow-Sister to be inside of.

That didn’t make it any better-freezers were cold. They were where Fire-Father kept a lot of his human food. Snow-Sister wasn’t food, right? Green-Enemy wouldn’t… Eat her? No, humans didn’t eat each other just like dragons didn’t eat each other.

The person who was holding him dropped Smaug back onto the table. The little dragon struggled to his paws and glared at the human who had been dunking him underneath the water over and over again. Although he couldn’t make very much noise outside of small sounds in the back of his throat, Smaug still attempted to snarl at them.

Instead of being intimidated, the person just laughed.

* * *

Caitlin closed her eyes and curled up into a tiny ball in the same corner of the freezing cell. She was shivering violently, the water that Eiling had dumped all over her making it even harder to stay warm. Her lips, although she couldn’t see them, were turning purplish blue. The cold air seemed to be getting steadily warmer, however, and she wondered if this time she was actually succumbing to hypothermia instead of just getting lucky with a faulty cooling system.

Suddenly, the door opened once again. Eiling stood there, outlined by the light from the hallway, and Caitlin wondered if he was going to let her out. Instead of walking instead and hauling her to her feet, however, Eiling just sneered and tossed something down into the darkness in front of her.

For a moment, Caitlin didn’t know what it was, and then her eyes picked out the familiar shape of a dragon’s head and neck and wings in the crumpled form.

Caitlin unfolded from her position and drew Smaug up into her laip before curling back up around him protectively. She looked up at Eiling in confusion. “Why?”

“We needed to test if the creature was cold blooded or warm blooded,” Eiling said shortly, before turning around. “If you have just told us what we needed to know than this could have all been avoided, but…”

He shut the door, leaving Caitlin and Smaug together in the frigid darkness of the cell.

Immediately, Caitlin fumbled along Smaug’s (thankfully breathing and alive) limp body for his head. When she managed to find the wire that Eiling had wrapped around his muzzle, tight enough to dig painfully into the dragon’s red scales, she tried to unravel it with fingers clumsy with numbness. Each time, however, she failed, and after the twelfth failed attempt she gave up.

Smaug stirred in her lap and whimpered quietly. Caitlin rubbed the spot underneath his chin where he had always loved being scratched. “I’m sorry, Cheeseburger,” she whispered to him, not even caring that she had used one of Cisco’s nicknames for the young dragon. “I can’t get it off. And I can’t treat any of your other wounds because I don’t have my tools. I’m really sorry.”

Smaug nuzzled the crook of her neck and chittered softly. Caitlin sighed and curled up even tighter around him. She forced the words that she was thinking to come out of her mouth.

“I’m going to tell him what he wants to know. Not all of it. Just little things, I promise,” Caitlin murmured. “I’ll try not to tell him anything about Barry and I’ll keep telling him that Stein and Ronnie are dead, but I’ll have to tell him some things about you guys. I’m really, really sorry.”

A small jagged icicle broke off from the ceiling and shattered into splinters on the floor. Caitlin sighed. That seemed like an accurate representation of her life at that moment.

Smaug licked her cheek. Although Caitlin couldn’t understand it, he was trying to tell her that it was okay. That he understood what she had to do to protect herself and to protect him. That everything would be alright once they were rescued.

Because they  _ would _ be rescued.

Wouldn’t they…?


	13. Scientific Advancement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A Saturday update that's on time for once! It's a miracle!

“So, Dr. Snow, are you finally ready to talk?” Eiling asked.

Caitlin looked up at him from her place protecting Smaug on the floor, breath coming in visible blue puffs. She looked down at the small dragon in her lap before nodding slowly. “I’ll tell you about the dragons. Whatever you want to know, I’ll try to tell you.” When Eiling narrowed his eyes, Caitlin explained. “We don’t know very much about them either.”

“We’ll see about that.” Eiling signalled to a woman who was standing in the hallway, and she stepped into the cell to relieve Caitlin of Smaug. The red dragon chirped in fear and tried to struggle, but only succeeded in making the woman grip and twist his wings even tighter.

Caitlin bit back her cry of indignation at the dragonlet’s treatment and allowing Eiling to grab her wrists and drag her off down the hallway back into the interrogation room that she had been in before. As he handcuffed her hands back to the table, Caitlin closed her eyes and readied herself for the questions that she knew that he would ask her.

Eiling cut right to the chase. “Tell me everything that you know about the dragons.”

“They’re warm blooded,” Caitlin began. “They have a sense of smell and incredible hearing that both seem to be almost on par with those of a cat’s. Their eyes are reflective and they have excellent vision, even in pitch darkness. We aren’t sure when they’re going to reach sexual maturity or if they’ve already passed it. And we don’t know how rare they are.”

“What about human interaction?” Eiling questioned. “How well do they follow orders?”

“Not well,” Caitlin admitted. “But they have excellent instincts, and they’ve obviously bonded with us.”

“And by  _ ‘us’ _ do you mean yourself, Mr. Ramon, and Mr. Allen?” Eiling narrowed his eyes at the woman. Caitlin hesitated, and Eiling looked at the man standing guard by the door (a different one than before). When he opened his mouth, presumably to give the order to do tell whoever was holding Smaug to do even more inhumane things to him, Caitlin spoke up hurriedly.

“Yes. But Cisco more than Barry and I.” Immediately, she wished that she hadn’t said that last part out loud. Now what would Eiling do? Would he try to take Cisco too? The five dragonlets would likely do anything that Eiling ordered them to if he threatened Cisco. Hell,  _ Caitlin _ would do anything if Eiling got his hands on Cisco or Barry.

“Good to know.” Eiling leaned forwards and looked Caitlin dead in the eyes. “Now tell me about Mr. Allen. What are the limits of his powers?”

Caitlin braced herself. “We don’t know. Theoretically, there… Might not even be one.” When Eiling didn’t make a move to strike her or signal one the man by the door to hurt Smaug again, she continued. “But based off of what Dr. Wells said before he… Disappeared, we think that there’s something surrounding him. We’re pretty sure that Wells called it the Speed Force-”

The doctor was cut off by something hitting her face, and Caitlin’s head snapped to one side from the force of Eiling’s slap. “Do not try to lie to me, Dr. Snow.”

“I’m not lying,” Caitlin hissed. “It’s true! By tapping into it, Barry can harness his speed and use it to do more than just run much faster than a normal person.”

Eiling shook his head. “I thought that we had come to an understanding, Dr. Snow. You tell me the truth about what you know, and in exchange I go a little bit easier on you and the beast because of what I learn. Instead, you try to tell me lies and then expect me to believe them. Maybe you need a reminder of what happens when you don’t tell the truth.”

Caitlin’s eyes widened as Eiling unlocked her handcuffs and started pulling her down the hallway. “What are you doing?!”

Eiling didn’t answer her. “Maybe, if you’re lucky, the dragon will be the only one that we examine today.”

Caitlin shuddered as Eilig opened one of the doors into a familiar room. The cage was still there, although it had been placed on a smaller side table instead of the main one in the center of the room. What was now in the middle of the table, however, was arguably worse.

Smaug was flipped over on the cold metal, lying on his back with his limbs pinned to the sides (wings included). The position was clearly awkward and uncomfortable, especially with the way that his neck had to be contorted in order for his horns to be even remotely comfortable on his body. Small knives, scalpels, and the dreaded pair of pliers were all lying polished and neat on a side table similar to the one that held the empty cage.

Caitlin glared at Eiling, wishing (not for the first time) that she was a metahuman with the ability to shoot something deadly or painful out of her eyes. Like poison. Or spikes. Spikes would be nice in this particular situation. “What are you doing to him?!” She growled. “I told you what you wanted to know about the dragons, now leave him alone! He’s just a baby, he doesn’t know what you’re doing or why you’re doing it! He just knows that you’re hurting him!”

Eiling ignored her and signalled to one of the people hovering over the weakly struggling dragonlet. “Take another sample of his scales.”

Caitlin watched as the people made a large show out of picking up and inspecting the pliers before setting them back down and picking up a small fine-bladed knife. The woman who held it up for approval from Eiling smirked at Caitlin’s horrified expression.

“Using the pliers alone might damage the scales a bit too much for them to be useful,” she said lightly. “Notice how the ones on its breast and stomach are more like that of a snake’s than the rest of its armor. So we’ll have to use a knife and then use the pliers afterwards.” Her smile grew even wider as Caitlin’s brown eyes did. “Don’t worry. I’m very good at making precise cuts in just the right places. Now, if it were a human it would be different, but at least this creature probably doesn’t feel pain.”

Caitlin opened her mouth to protest loudly, but before any noise could come out something filled her mouth. Her hands automatically reached up as she tried to pull the gag away from her face. However, he hands were still cuffed, so she only succeeded in pawing fruitlessly at the filthy cloth as Eiling finished tying it around her head. That didn’t stop her from making muffled sounds of anger and horror through the gag, however.

The woman holding the knife ignored her and bent over Smaug’s stomach. She carefully carved out the edges of one of the plates that went down his chest, paying no attention to the dragon’s muffled cries of pain. One of the others, a young man who looked no older than twenty, collected Smaug’s tears in a tiny phial. When he had filled it, he passed it along to another man, who carefully corked the phial and then set it down gently inside of a foam outline so that it wouldn’t break.

When the woman decided that the scale had been sufficiently ‘loosened’, she picked the pliers back up and pinched the scale carefully with it. She looked back up at the horrified Caitlin and smirked. “This part requires a lot of precision.”

Then, with a practiced hand (and Caitlin hated to think of how she might have gotten that practice), she yanked the scale off of the dragon’s body.

Smaug wailed loudly around the wire and tried to break free of what was holding him down. His tail thumped against the table frantically as blood trickled down the sides of his body and stuck to his other scales. The woman, whose name tag Caitlin now realized marked her as ‘Dr. Jace’, pressed a small towel down onto the bleeding spot. Caitlin doubted that it was for any sort of empathetic reason-she probably just didn’t want the dragonlet to die before she had done all of the experiments that she wanted to.

As Dr. Jace set the scale down on a separate towel, Caitlin glared at her and growled curses through the gag. Eiling looked first at Dr. Jace and then at Caitlin before untying the piece of dirty cloth from around the woman’s mouth. Instead of protesting, the first words out of Caitlin’s mouth were ones that  _ definitely _ should  _ not _ have been said around small children. Or large children. Or adults. Or anybody, really.

Eiling smacked her hard in the face. “Language, Dr. Snow. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to your tongue, would we? Especially because I still need it to tell me more about your metahuman friend and about the dragons.” He paused. “But it  _ is _ a little late for that. You should get some sleep.”

He retied the gag and handed her off to another one of the guards by the door. They dragged her back off down the hallway, ignoring Caitlin’s kicking and small attempt at punching.

Caitlin tried to yell, tried to tell the man who was pulling her firmly and quickly along that she had to go back, that she had to protect Smaug. But he payed no attention to her protesting.

The man opened a door and hauled her inside of the room that it led to, which contained a lightbulb hanging from a chain (Cisco would have said that it was cliche), a threadbare cot, and not much else. The man shoved her down onto her knees and cuffed her wrists to the leg of the cot. Caitlin supposed that she should have been thankful that he left her ankles free.

As he marched back out of the room, Caitlin tried to stand up in the windowless cell. But the fact that her hands were cuffed to the cot made it very difficult to stand up at all without being hunched over painfully with her arm pressed against the metal ring around her wrist. So she decided to lie down (in a rather uncomfortable position) to the best of her ability on the cot.

Caitlin stared at the wall.  _ Please come soon. I don’t know how much longer Eiling will want to keep us alive. _

* * *

Smaug whimpered from his place inside of the cage. The bad thing around his muzzle had been replaced with something equally bad, but at least he had had a brief moment of freedom to open his mouth. He’d used that moment of freedom to try to bite the person who had taken the wire off.

Then he was unloaded from the cage, tied down quickly and tightly to something hard and cold and  _ bad, _ and then everything was cold. Not as cold as before, when he had been with Snow-Sister, but still too cold for comfort.

A loud beeping groaning sound started up, and Smaug whimpered through the bad thing around his mouth. He tried to reach up with his paws to block out his sensitive ears, but they were bound down to tightly. The spot on his belly where the bad woman had ripped up one of his scales still hurt a lot, but the bleeding had stopped earlier. The other places where Green-Enemy and the other bad humans had pulled off his red scales still ached as well.

Smaug wanted to go home. He wanted to go back to the Home Lair and the Star Lair, he wanted Snow-Sister to be back safely. Smaug wanted Question-Brother and Flames-Brother to be alive again. He wanted to curl up with his brothers and sisters and fly for the first time with all of them beside him. The dragon wanted  _ home, _ where his family was. Not here where bad humans could hurt him and Snow-Sister.

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t go home.

Smaug was trapped here. Trapped with Green-Enemy and all of the other bad humans who were hurting him and Snow-Sister.

Maybe he would die here, too. Even though he was aware of the fact that he was only a tiny baby compared to most other dragons, that only meant that he was more fragile. Smaug didn’t even know how to breathe fire yet, unlike three of his siblings.

He just wanted to go  _ home. _

When the loud sounds finally finished and they dragged Smaug out after untying him, Green-Enemy replaced the thing around his muzzle. Smaug didn’t even try to bite him this time, just let the human wrap the bad thin sharp thing back around his jaws to secure them shut. 

The dragonlet didn’t see Snow-Sister anywhere-had Green-Enemy done something bad to her? No, no, she had to be okay. Green-Enemy and Snow-Sister were both humans, and humans usually didn’t try to hurt each other. Well, enemies and demons did, and Green-Enemy certainly fit into one of those categories, but that didn’t mean that he had done something worse than hit her and put her in the freezer, right?

Green-Enemy put Smaug back into the cage and turned to one of the other humans accompanying him. “Take a few more wing samples and something from the tip of its tail. We’ll schedule the vivisection for tomorrow.”

Smaug blinked at the unfamiliar word. There were a lot of those spoken here, and nobody who bothered to try to explain them the way that Fire-Father and very occasionally Snow-Sister or Sparks-Brother did. Smaug shivered. Whatever it meant, it probably wasn’t anything good. The things that Green-Enemy said usually weren’t in Smaug’s (admittedly limited) experience.

Hopefully Green-Enemy was only doing all of these bad things to him and not to Snow-Sister, too.

That would be even worse than what he was doing to Smaug.

Humans were much softer and squishier than dragons were. It wouldn’t take much to break her compared to a dragon.

* * *

Caitlin didn’t know  _ how _ she managed to fall asleep in the tiny cell on the uncomfortable cot, but she did. For how long she had no idea, but she woke up to Eiling dumping ice water on her and then dragging her off once again down towards what looked like a different room than the ones that they had been in already. Maybe it was another interrogation room?

But when she was pushed through the door, she was faced with something far worse than another interrogation room.

Smaug was strapped down to the table, similar to the way that he had been before when Dr. Jace had pulled the scale off of his stomach. Only this time, instead of being awkwardly flipped over onto his back, Smaug was pinned down to the table on his stomach with his wings forced opened. It gave Caitlin a clear view of what they had done to him.

Luckily, his wings seemed  _ mostly _ undamaged; especially when compared to what had happened to Mushu’s. But there were still obvious marks on them where Eiling or one of the doctors had carved out pieces of the webbing to take samples. Caitlin was just grateful that Smaug would still be able to fly one dad if- _ when _ they were rescued.

That was when her eyes alighted on the tools on the side table next to the main one that Smaug was tied to and her face paled. She recognized them.

Scalpels and forceps, bone saws and files, surgical scissors and specimen jars, they were all there. Caitlin shuddered. She knew that Eiling wouldn’t use them on  _ her _ (would he?) but he obviously had no qualms about experimenting on Smaug.

That was when Dr. Jace picked up the bone saw and set the teeth against the base of one of the red spines that went down the length of Smaug’s back.

Caitlin let out a cry of horror that was quickly stifled by Eiling rewrapping the gag around her mouth. She tried to tear it away, and when that failed she attempted to hurl herself at Dr. Jace and the other orderlies around her.

Something grabbed her neck, momentarily cutting off her air supply. Caitlin let out a choked gasp as she was thrown down hard onto the floor, the collision with the cement sending pain shooting through her already sore and bruised body. Eiling glared down at her. “You had your chance to cooperate, Dr. Snow. Besides, we know that there are more of the creatures. If this one succumbs to the experiments, we can always just take another. Maybe next time we’ll even get out hands on your engineer friend and Mr. Allen as well. The dragons seem like intelligent creatures-I wonder how well they’ll behave when Mr. Ramon is the one punished for their actions.”

Caitlin tried to tell him that she would tell him anything that he wanted to know, anything at all, as long as he left Cisco and Barry alone. But all that came out through the gag was muffled noises, and Eiling seemed to take them as encouragement to proceed with the experiment. He looked at Dr. Jace, who smirked and looked at the orderlies.

“Be ready in case he somehow manages to break free,” she ordered, moving the bone saw so that it was tilted down at an angle that went into the dragon’s scales instead of just straight across the small spike. Dr. Jace looked at Eiling for one more confirmation, which came in the form of a nod and a wave of his hand. And then she began.

Smaug immediately started writhing on the table as Caitlin hauled herself to her feet and tried to throw herself at Eiling. Couldn’t he understand that they were killing him? Hurting him? Smaug was only a baby, he couldn’t even breathe fire yet! Didn’t they realize that what they were doing was wrong and evil and cruel?

Despite the fact that his mouth was still bound shut tightly with the wire, Smaug was still trying to wail. Even though it was muffled, the sound still sent chills down Caitlin’s spine.

She hurled herself at Eiling again.

The general grabbed her arms hard enough to bruise as she tried to swing her cuffed hands at his head. Eiling yanked them back over her head, ignoring her cry of pain, and then kicked her legs out from underneath her. Caitlin’s knees hit the floor hard.

The woman squeezed her eyes shut and then turned her head away, trying not to look at Smaug and Dr. Jace. Smaug had stopped wailing, and instead had starting making small sobbing noises as transparent tears slid down from his eyes. Caitlin had known that the dragons could cry-she just hadn’t realized how heartbreaking it was to see. Instead of letting her look away, however, Eiling grabbed her chin roughly and forced her to watch. The doctor tried to keep her eyes closed, but found that she couldn’t tear them away from the scene before her.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of sawing, Dr. Jace picked up the spine that she had carved out of Smaug’s back. Instead of slicing across the base of the small spike and possibly leaving a small part of the bottom still attached, she had sawed down and then up, so that there was a bloody scoop taken out of Smaug’s red scales.

Caitlin tried to break free of Eiling’s grip and rise to her feet in a futile attempt to treat his wounds, but the man refused to let her stand up. “We’re not done yet, Dr. Snow. We still have to take samples of its horns.”

Dr. Jace picked up the file and set it against one of Smaug’s horns, moving in back and forth and making an awful sound that set Caitlin’s teeth on edge. Smaug didn’t even try to make any noise or struggle this time, instead lying there limply while crying.

Dr. Jace kept working as one of the orderlies collected the pieces of Smaug’s horn that fell on a small metal tray. They, unlike any of the others, seemed to be making a bit of an effort not to cause the young dragon any more discomfort than what he was already in. The orderly smiled nervously at Dr. Jace before stepping away when the woman was done filing.

For a moment Dr. Jace stepped away and one of the guards took her place, causing Caitlin to breath a small sigh of relief. Maybe they were done for now, and this would be the worst of it for a while.

But instead of putting Smaug back into the tiny cramped cage, the burly man unbound the dragon from the table, flipped him over onto his back (making the dragon howl in pain around the wire tied around his jaws), and then rebound him the same way that he had been positioned before.

Caitlin’s heart dropped into the pit of her stomach.

Dr. Jace picked up a marker from the side table and draw an all-too-familiar shape on the dragon’s stomach. An autopsy Y, fitted to Smaug’s scales and body shape.

They were going to vivisect him.

Caitlin started struggling even more, trying to bite Eiling around the gag. When her teeth made soft contact with flesh (she couldn’t exactly bite down very hard) he jerked his hand away and punched her in the face again, fist hitting the same eye that it had last time and making the already purplish blue skin hurt even more. She tried to scream, but the sound came out garbled and indistinct instead of furious.

Smaug, obviously realizing that something was wrong, started to thrash even more. But he wasn’t able to squirm for too long before Dr. Jace sighed and picked up what looked like a cattle prod before jabbing it into the dragon’s stomach for a moment. Smaug yowled with pain and surprise before going limp, glaring weakly up at Dr. Jace, Eiling, and the orderlies.

(Caitlin remembered what Martin Stein had told them after they had rescued him from Eiling, the way that Ronnie’s back had arched in pain underneath her hands as he felt Stein’s agony through their link.)

Dr. Jace picked up a scalpel from the table, paying no attention at all to Caitlin’s frantic attempts to escape from Eiling’s clutches and assist the young dragon she was about to cut open.

Just as Dr. Jace made the first cut, the door slammed open and something threw her onto the floor away from Smaug.

Something ripped Caitlin away from Eiling and pulled the gag off of her face. She immediately tried to punch them with her cuffed fists, and they dodged with a small yelp of surprise. “Caitlin, it’s just me!”

She paused and lowered her arms, recognizing the familiar red suit with its lightning bolt insignia on the chest, as well the voice. “Barry?”

Her friend nodded and gestured to the man who was undoing the straps that held Smaug down. “And Cisco.”

Caitlin sighed with relief as her shoulders slumped. She held up her bound hands. “Can you get me out of these?”

Barry smiled shakily at her and vanished, reappearing in the flicker of lightning with a keyring in his hand. He glared down at Eiling, who was lying groaning on the floor. “Did he do anything to you?” The speedster asked as he unlocked her handcuffs. “Other than whatever happened to your eye and kidnapping you, obviously.” He looked around. “Was it always this cold in here?”

While he assisted Caitlin, Cisco was untying Smaug from the table. The red dragon was whimpering through the wire, which Cisco hastily snipped with a pair of bolt cutters that he had brought along just in case he ended up needing them, something that he didn’t at all regret now. “Shhh, baby,” he murmured, fingers trembling as he undid the straps. Cisco winced as his fingers dipped into a small pool of blood. “I know he hurt you, but I’m here now. I’ve got you. It’s okay, Cheeseburger.”

Smaug whimpered as Cisco undid the last binding and then picked him up, closing his eyes briefly at the sight of his missing scales and spine. He turned around to glare at Eiling as the dragon’s blood stained his clothes.

“How could you do this?!” He demanded. “He’s only a baby!”

A low snarl answered him, and suddenly Cisco was thankful that they had made two trips in order to bring the other four dragonlets along with them on their way to rescue Smaug and Caitlin.

Vermithrax arched his back, tail swinging slowly back and forth as the grey dragon advanced on Eiling with his teeth bared in a feral snarl. Behind him, Griffin and Saphira growled in unison as they padded forwards with their wings up and open. Mushu was at the back of the group, green scales gleaming under the artificial light of the operating room.

Smaug curled up closer to Cisco’s chest, shaking, as Eiling stood up. He pulled out a gun and aimed it at Cisco’s head, and Barry (who had been about to lunge for him at superspeed), as well as the dragons, froze in their tracks. Eiling glared at them as he reached into his back pocket. “Don’t move, or Mr. Ramon gets a bullet in his brain.”

Barry raised his hands placatingly. “You’re going to jail, Eiling. Surrender yourself.”

Eiling sneered and pulled something out; a box with glowing sides. Cisco and Caitlin didn’t recognize it, but Barry did, and he jumped back while eyeing it nervously. The dragons excluding Smaug hissed at the unknown threat, as well as at the gun aimed in between Cisco’s wide brown eyes.

For a moment, nobody dared to move, although Caitlin was looking around like she was hoping that they had brought someone else along as well for backup. Barry wished that they had. Maybe, if he managed to get in and out of range and then grab the gun as well as the box, Eiling wouldn’t have any time to throw it at him or shoot Cisco. It was mostly wishful thinking, but not completely impossible.

Without any warning whatsoever, Vermithrax lunged.

Before Eiling had time to react (he was expecting  _ Barry _ to attack him, not one of the dragons), Vermithrax had sunk his teeth deep into the wrist of the hand that was holding the gun. The dragon bit down as hard as he possibly could with his powerful jaws, sharp teeth scraping against bone.

Eiling screamed, the gun fell, and Barry reacted.

He zoomed forward and grabbed the box right out of the general’s hand, racing away with it and then setting it down. Then Barry stood beside Cisco and Caitlin and watched as four very angry dragons attacked Eiling without any mercy.

Saphira bit down on his ear after scrambling up his body like it was a tree, Vermithrax kept chewing on Eiling’s wrist, Mushu raked his claws down the side of the man’s leg, and Griffin sank her sharp talons into his stomach. The dragons, especially Vermithrax, were large enough now to pose a serious threat when they decided to actually be intimidating. Even though only three of them could breathe fire and none of them could fly, they didn’t need those particular weapons in their arsenal to defeat someone like Eiling.

“Should we do something?” Caitlin asked. Cisco and Barry looked at her. “Like tie him up, or something. Handcuff him.”

Cisco shook his head and didn’t look away from what was happening to Eiling. “Nope. Let my babies have their fun.” He carefully scratched Smaug underneath the chin. “They deserve it, and so does he for what he did to Smaug. And Caitlin.”

Vermithrax accidentally set fire to a stack of papers, and Barry snapped his fingers, although it didn’t really make any sound through his suit. “Right, I should probably find the records of the experiments that they did. I don’t want anybody to try to follow in Eiling’s footsteps.”

He vanished in a flash before returning with his arms full of papers. Caitlin’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know that he did so much…”

Barry shook his head. “These are mostly just random notes. And half of it is about me, and the rest of it is mostly about FIRESTORM. There actually isn’t that much about Smaug himself.”

Cisco whistled and pointed at the papers as his friend set them down on the floor. “Babies! Here!”

They all seemed to understand what he wanted from them and abandoned Eiling on the floor, the three that could breath fire immediately torching the stack.

Unfortunately, Barry had accidentally knocked over several chemicals that mixed on the floor, and suddenly the entire lab was ablaze.

In two seconds Caitlin was whisked to safety and left standing outside of a rather normal-looking building. A moment later Cisco was left beside her, still clutching Smaug (although Barry had thoughtfully wrapped him in a clean towel). Then the dragons were left, and Barry started bring out orderlies, guards, and doctors as ones that realized what was going on because of the fire alarms started pouring out of the building.

After he finally stopped running and stood beside them, Caitlin opened her mouth to ask where Eiling was. Barry cut her off with a shake of his head. “He got away somehow. I went back in for him last, and when I came back he was already gone.”

As fire engine sirens began to get closer and closer, Barry scooped Caitlin up bridal style, mindful of her bruises. He looked at Cisco. “I’ll be back in a second for you guys.”

Caitlin clung to her friend as the world blurred in the familiar way that it always did when Barry carried someone. Her eye was still swelling shut, and as soon as Barry dropped her off inside of the Cortex (one of the few parts of STAR Labs that  _ wasn’t _ completely destroyed by the singularity) she immediately went for the freezer and grabbed an ice pack to put on it.

She closed her good eye and breathed in deeply through her nose. STAR Labs was warm, not like the frigid facility, wherever it had been. It didn’t smell the same at all. While Eiling’s experiments seemed to make everything smell more like blood and fear than anything else, STAR smelled like home. Like Cisco and Barry and the dragons and Iris’s perfume. Funny how she had never noticed that before.

The sound of papers being blown everywhere signalled Barry’s arrival, and he set Cisco and Smaug down on the floor. Caitlin’s best friend was still cradling the young red dragon to his chest, as if in an effort to protect him from any and all threats.

Cisco carried Smaug carefully over to one of Caitlin’s cots, setting the bleeding dragon down as Barry whooshed away to bring back the others. He stared at his baby in mute shock for a moment before looking at Caitlin. “What did they do to him?”

She walked over to his side and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Bad things. I-I don’t know all of it, because Eiling stuck me in a cell and in a refrigerator”-Cisco’s eyes widened-“but it was definitely bad.” Caitlin swallowed and closed her eyes. “How did you guys find us, anyways? My tracker bracelet broke.”

Cisco scoffed. “Just because the clasp breaks doesn’t mean that the tracker inside of it stops working. Although it  _ did _ only really give us an approximation, because we’re pretty sure that it fell into water or mud or something. Luckily, the security cam footage of outside was mostly intact, and Felicity helped me piece it back together the rest of the way.”

Caitlin closed her good eye for a moment. She was safe, Smaug was safe, Cisco was safe, and Barry was safe. That was what was important.

* * *

Smaug pressed himself against Fire-Father’s side, wings trembling. His scales  _ hurt, _ and even now that he was back at the Star Lair he was scared that Green-Enemy and the other person would find him and hurt him and Snow-Sister again.

His brothers and sisters were on the floor, clearly wanting nothing more than to jump up to curl up beside him. But Snow-Sister wasn’t letting them, making sure that they all stayed on the floor while she bandaged Smaug’s various injuries. Fire-Father was allowed to sit with him, however, the same way that he had been when Mushu was rescued from Redsparks-Demon.

Sparks-Brother was helping Snow-Sister, occasionally trying to press something that looked like light green water into her hands. She’d take a small sip of it before handing it back and picking something up to wrap around on of Smaug’s wounds or replacing the thing that she held clasped to her eye.

But it was when she picked up something that looked like a needle, Smaug sprang away.

The red dragon pressed himself flat against the wall, hissing at Snow-Sister and Fire-Father. Smaug did  _ not _ want any of those bad sharp things near him ever again, not ever ever again. They  _ hurt  _ and they did bad things and Smaug did  _ not  _ like them at  _ all. _ Even though he knew that Snow-Sister wouldn’t hurt him, that she had no reason to and that she cared about him, that she had tried to protect him from Green-Enemy and the other bad people, he still didn’t want her coming close to him with one of the bad needles.

Snow-Sister sighed and bent down. “It’s okay,” she murmured, “it won’t hurt you. You’re really dehydrated because they didn’t give you any water.” She winced. “I can drink stuff with electrolytes, but you can’t, so I’m gonna need to give you an IV. And that means a needle.”

Smaug growled softly at her. Just because Snow-Sister didn’t  _ mean _ or  _ want _ to hurt him didn’t mean that she wouldn’t. Even though she had tried to save him, tried to protect him from Green-Enemy, didn’t mean that she wouldn’t hurt him. Smaug knew that his fear didn’t have any cause, but that didn’t stop him from eyeing the needle in her hand and trying to stay as far away from it as possible.

Snow-Sister frowned. “I don’t want to have to hold him down, but…”

Sparks-Brother set his hand down on her shoulder. “Can I try? He always seemed to like me.”

Snow-Sister nodded and handed the needle (which had a long clear thing attached to it) to Sparks-Brother. He bent down and carefully reached out towards Smaug with his free hand. “Hey, buddy,” he murmured, “it’s alright. We won’t hurt you. Eiling can’t get to you anymore. This will help make you feel better, okay? And it doesn’t even hurt that much. Just a little prick underneath your scales.”

Smaug studied it nervously. Sparks-Brother and Snow-Sister and Fire-Father wouldn’t hurt him, but… He didn’t like needles. At all.

Sparks-Brother flipped his hand over and then held the needle out (which made Smaug flinch) before sliding it under his own skin. He smiled at Smaug. “See? It won’t hurt you, I promise. It’ll just make you feel better.”

Smaug leaned forwards and sniffed the spot where the needle disappeared into Sparks-Brother’s body. Humans and dragons were different in many ways, yes, but this… This seemed like it would actually help him. It certainly wasn’t hurting Sparks-Brother, and maybe that meant that it wouldn’t hurt Smaug, either. Besides, Sparks-Brother was absolutely one of the good humans. He wouldn’t hurt Smaug, would he? At least not on purpose.

Sparks-Brother pulled the needle out and then handed it back to Snow-Sister, who gave him a look as she did something to detach it from whatever the weird blue thing that held it to the tube was. “Next time, just ask me for a different needle to show him that it’s okay.”

Sparks-Brother nodded sheepishly and accepted the new needle before holding it out to Smaug. “See? It’s fine. It won’t hurt you, I promise.”

Smaug stepped forwards slowly, flicking his wings out for a moment. Maybe the needle  _ wouldn’t  _ hurt him, but he didn’t have hands the way that humans did. He had paws. How was Snow-Sister or Sparks-Brother supposed to put the needle in him, then?

He got his answer when Sparks-Brother picked him up and slipped the needle underneath one of his scales on the inside of one of his front legs.

It didn’t hurt very much, and Sparks-Brother set him back down with the instruction to stay still. Fire-Father rested a hand on his haunches to keep the dragon in place, and Snow-Sister rubbed something that felt nice on his horns where the bad people had done things.

That was when Fire-Father made a small sound of anger. The other two humans looked at him.

“What is it?” Snow-Sister asked. “They didn’t do something  _ too _ terrible to him while I wasn’t there, did they?”

Fire-Father gestured to Smaug’s tail, practically shaking with rage. The red dragon tried to crane his neck and look at what he was pointing at. Not that the dragon didn’t have a pretty good idea of what Fire-Father had discovered.

Sparks-Brother scowled when they realized what it was. “So that wasn’t just extra blood.”

Snow-Sister shook her head and closed her eyes before rubbing underneath Smaug’s chin. “I’m sorry. I should have been there. I should have tried to do something more to protect you. I’m so sorry.”

_ “It’s okay,”  _ Smaug mewled, nuzzling her hand gently.  _ “I know that Green-Enemy hurt you too. And you couldn’t have done anything. At least most of it is still there. That means that I can still use it to steer and for balance. They only cut off the tip of my tail, not the entire thing. It’s okay.” _

“If Eiling  _ ever _ tries to show his face again,” Fire-Father growled, “I’ll kill him.”

“I’ll help you hide the body,” Snow-Sister offered. “I know a lot of people who won’t ask questions.”

Sparks-Brother gave her a weird look before nodding. “I’ll make sure that he  _ never _ lays a hand on any of the dragons or on you, Caitlin, ever again.”

Vermithrax raked the floor with his talons, making an eerie scratching noise.  _ “I’ll light him on fire if he so much as  _ thinks _ about trying to take you away again. I will not lose one of you. Never.” _

Griffin purred loudly.  _ “I’m glad that you’re back, Smaug-Brother. When you disappeared…”  _ She shivered.  _ “And then Snow-Sister went away right after that, and we didn’t know what to do. It took a while for the humans to figure out that it was Green-Enemy, even though we tried to show them.”  _ Griffin jumped up beside him and licked Fire-Father’s hand before doing the same to Smaug’s cheek.  _ “I’m really glad that you’re back.” _

Smaug pressed his face into the crook of her neck and closed his eyes.  _ “Me too. I hope that nothing like that ever happens to you or Vermithrax-Brother.” _

Saphira nodded and twined her tail with Mushu’s.  _ “It’s scary being caught, isn’t it?” _

_ “Very.”  _ Smaug shuddered.  _ “I thought-I thought that I was going to die there. I thought that Green-Enemy was going to kill me, kill Snow-Sister. He-he said that he would come after you, and that he would use Snow-Sister as bait to catch Sparks-Brother. And-and he wanted to catch Grey-Friend and Flames-Brother.”  _ He paused.  _ “Snow-Sister told Green-Enemy that they were dead. That both of them died when Redsparks-Demon disappeared and Question-Brother was killed. She lied to him. She-she’s very brave.” _

Saphira puffed up her chest proudly.  _ “I know.” _


	14. Accelerando

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> accelerando, adjective & adverb  
> 1.  
> with a gradual increase of speed (used chiefly as a direction).  
> noun  
> 1.  
> an accelerando passage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've had this chapter written for so long how come i haven't updated it's probably because I'm a Mess™

It had been a month since Smaug and Caitlin’s capture, and they were still feeling the aftereffects.

Caitlin had told them about most of the things that had happened to her and what she had seen happen to Smaug, but there has been a large chunk of time for the three days that the dragon had been missing that she hadn’t been there for. Almost an entire day, in fact. Eiling could have done  _ anything _ to him during that time, and they would have had no idea.

Luckily, it seemed like not very much had happened during that time. At least judging by the wounds that the dragon had. It was something that Cisco was grateful for.

They’d discovered that Smaug was terrified of medical equipment on his first day of freedom after being rescued when he refused to go anywhere near Caitlin’s particular room of STAR Labs. Of course, he was obviously scared of needles, because of the IV incident, but they hadn’t realized that it extended to the very scent of that weird hand sanitizer that Caitlin used. Cisco was pretty sure that it was some sort of universal constant; every doctor’s office and hospital used the same nasty soap and hand sanitizer combination.

Smaug was also scared of water.

Caitlin had told them about how Eiling had held him under (Cisco had been ready to track Eiling down himself and murder him with his bare hands), so Cisco had expected some opposition when he led the dragon to his bathtub a few days after his rescue, but he hadn’t expected outright panic. Smaug had frozen almost entirely except for his trembling, and then turned around and dove underneath Cisco’s couch. The man had no idea how he had even been able to  _ fit _ under there, seeing as how there was little to no gap between the couch and the floor, but Smaug had managed it.

It took cat treats, the promise of no bath, and effort from the other dragonlets to coax him back out again.

In the end, Smaug  _ did _ end up getting washed, but it was with a wet washcloth while he stood nervously in the empty bathtub. (The rest of his siblings were bathed normally.)

The young red dragon also had nightmares, something that he shared with Cisco, Caitlin, Mushu, Barry, and Iris. Although while Caitlin’s were a mix of her capture and what had happened to Ronnie, Mushu’s were probably about what had happened to his wings, Barry’s were about pretty much every bad thing that could possibly happen and  _ had _ happened to them, Iris’s seemed seemed to be almost always about Eddie’s suicide, and Cisco’s were about his death on the alternate timeline, Smaug’s seemed to do with what Eiling had done to him.

They would never know for sure until Cisco invented something that would help him understand the dragon’s language, because they clearly had one, but that was their best guess and also made the most sense.

It had been the nightmares, among other things like just how  _ big  _ the dragons were quickly growing, that prompted the dragon’s permanent move to STAR Labs until they could find a better place for them.

Opinions on it among the dragons were mixed, although mostly positive; Saphira didn’t care, Griffin and surprisingly Vermithrax seemed to love it (they were the only ones out of the five to already start testing out their wings and doing more and more practice for eventual flight), Smaug was fine with it as long as he was nowhere near any sort of medical room, and Mushu took the change in his stride. The green dragon didn’t care as long as he got to see Cisco as much as possible and never had to go down into the Pipeline.

And, in turn, it had been the move to STAR Labs that revealed the fact that Smaug now  _ hated _ a good portion of Cisco’s tools, especially the pliers.

Cisco really couldn’t blame him, considering the terrible things that Eiling had done to him in the name of science.

* * *

Cisco was walking back to STAR Labs from the Thai place on the intersection of third and eighth with Griffin when it happened.

Griffin was much, much bigger than she had been. Whereas before she had been able to scramble up and down Cisco’s body whenever she pleased, despite the discomfort that it caused them both, now she would have been more likely to crush him. She wasn’t nearly as big as her brother Vermithrax, who was around the size of a German Shepard, but she was still sizable, roughly as big as a collie.

As such, she needed even more exercise than ever before. The Thai place was easy to walk to from the lab, and it also helped that one of the owners was superstitious while the other one was blind. Cisco would swap out which dragon he took every time that he went, trying to give each one the same amount of exercise whenever he could. 

The Thai place was also in a rather… Unsavory part of town. Every city had one. While it had never been robbed itself, one of the owners had once witnessed the drugstore across the street being broken into. Cisco was pretty sure that Griffin could handle herself, however, so he left her standing outside (half-hidden from prying eyes behind a dumpster) while he went in.

As Cisco was greeted by the owner and her wife, he made sure to keep one eye outside the front window to make sure that nobody had noticed his baby and started screaming. Luckily, that didn’t seem to be the case, and the engineer headed back outside confident that nothing noteworthy had happened to Griffin.

So he was surprised to see that the young golden dragon was facing three men with her hackles raised and her teeth bared.

If Cisco had been looking closely, he would have realized that they were all wearing nice clothes and were carrying guns, but he wasn’t. All that Cisco cared about was the fact that these people were trying to take  _ another _ one of his babies. And he would die before he let something like that happen to one of them ever again. Not after what had happened to Mushu and Smaug, not after what happened when the Snart siblings and Mick Rory tried to separate him from Saphira.

Cisco took a step forwards and puffed up his chest. “Hey! What do you three think you’re doing?”

Instead of being intimidated (not that Cisco really expected him too, he wasn’t exactly tall and musclebound), all three men looked at him with expressions that seemed closer to triumph than actual happiness. But that didn’t make any sense at all, unless-

Trap.

Cisco spun around just as something heavy and metal whacked into his head and sent his world plunging into darkness in a burst of pain and stars.

* * *

Griffin howled with rage and threw her entire body against the wall of the wooden crate that she was trapped inside of. After the bad people had hit Fire-Father and knocked him unconscious, she’d immediately turned her back on three of them to attack the person who had struck him. That turned out to be a mistake, and while she was focused on Fire-Father her new enemies clipped something around her neck. It turned on with a low whining sound, and pain shot through her entire body.

While Griffin was busy trying to rip the collar off of her neck, the bad people threw a net over her, dragged her across the ground, and then kicked her in the face. She’d roared in anger and tried to shake the net off, but before she could, the bad man who had hit Fire-Father hefted a large piece of metal that shone dangerously in the sun before slamming it into the dragon’s skull.

Everything had gone dark, and when Griffin woke up she was trapped in the crate.

The caramel-gold dragon had no idea where Fire-Father was, only that they had probably taken him too. Was he in a cage as well? What had the bad people done to him? Had they hurt him? He’d been lying so still when they knocked her out, the only way for her to tell that he was alive the steady rise and fall of his chest. Griffin knew that sometimes when people got hit in the head they forgot things; that was why Snow-Sister asked them if they knew their names and stuff when they woke up. Fire-Father had been hit hard. What if he had forgotten things?

She had to get to him. She had to know if he was okay.

As Griffin attacked the wall once again, she realized that she could smell something unfamiliar through the small cracks in between the boards. (Griffin wished more than ever that she could breathe fire.) It was strange and dark and  _ bad,  _ although it didn’t have the strange humming as Redsparks-Demon’s scent or the bitter coolness of Iceshard-Enemy’s.

Maybe it was one of Green-Enemy’s friends? Taking revenge for Smaug and Snow-Sister’s escape? Griffin had bitten him pretty badly. Had he singled her out from her siblings on purpose?

But if this was Green-Enemy, why had he taken Fire-Father? Why had he not already started doing terrible, awful things to her? It couldn’t be Green-Enemy.

Then… Who was it? It didn’t seem like any of the enemies that she knew of. And the bad people had been wearing funny black and white clothes. None of the other enemies had.

Griffin shook her head and slammed her horns against the wall of the crate again. It didn’t matter which enemy had taken her. At least not yet. All that mattered was that Griffin had been captured, and Fire-Father had been taken along with her. Griffin herself would hopefully be fine no matter what they did to her. But Fire-Father… Fire-Father was human. They could hurt him badly. Very badly.

And she wasn’t there to protect him.

Griffin took a deep breath, wishing that she could breathe fire the way that three of her siblings could. At least the bad collar around her neck was gone. It had been removed while she was unconscious. It was a small mercy in the grand scheme of things.

Suddenly, a voice said something right outside of the crate. Griffin stiffened and raised her hackles. How come she hadn’t smelled them approaching? She cursed herself for being too lost in her own mind to notice that one of the enemies was coming closer.

“So it’s all ready for transport, then?” The voice asked. It was male, and not one that Griffin had ever heard before. That didn’t mean much-if this really  _ was _ Green-Enemy, he had lots of dangerous friends.

A second voice, this one female, spoke up from Griffin’s other side. “Yes. It took us a while to find something big enough to fit it but still small enough to limit its movements, but we managed it. It’s all ready to go as soon as we get the transportation organized.”

“I just got off the phone with our driver,” the first person replied. “We can move it before our… Guest ever wakes up.”

Griffin roared loudly and angrily.  _ “What are you doing to Fire-Father?! Let me out! Let me out!” _

For a moment there was surprised silence, and then the woman’s voice spoke again. “It seems like the product has woken up. We’re going to need a muzzle for it if it keeps making those noises.”

“Don’t worry,” the man assured her, “the auction is in thirty six hours. That’s plenty of time to muzzle it, but we still won’t be stuck with it for too long.”

* * *

When Cisco first woke up, he thought that he was dead.

He couldn’t see and he could hardly breath, his head was pounding, and something was digging into his wrists and ankles. When he tried to open his eyes, his word stayed dark, and when he tried to scream, he found that his mouth felt as if it were full of cloth.

Oh. It probably felt like that because it  _ was _ full of cloth.

Cisco was gagged and blindfolded, with his hands cuffed in front of him and his ankles bound together with zipties. He had no idea where he was or how he had gotten there, although judged by the road rash on his forearms he had probably been dragged across the ground for part of it. Cisco’s head felt like there was an elephant standing on it, and the hard floor that he was lying on was doing absolutely nothing whatsoever to alleviate that.

He heard a creaking sound and guessed that the door to wherever he was trapped had just opened, and Cisco braced himself to hear a familiar voice; Snart, maybe, or Eiling, if he’d survived the fire.

Instead, the person who ripped the blindfold off of his face and pulled the gag out of his mouth before grabbing him and yanking him upright (which made his injuries hurt even more) was someone that he had never seen before in his life. Not even a mugshot or in passing. They were completely unfamiliar to Cisco, and in a way that was even worse than it being someone that he knew. If they were unfamiliar, they were a wild card. Any weaknesses that they had were unknown.

Just like how what they wanted with Cisco and Griffin was unknown.

As the stranger threw Cisco down into a chair (ow) and adjusted his bindings so that he was tied to it, the engineer tried to get a read on why he would want Cisco in the first place. Was this because of the Flash? Only because of the dragons? Did they want  _ him,  _ with his ability to make weapons that shot frost and fire and gold?

Cisco bit his tongue and tried not to say anything. He wanted to scream and shout and demand to know where they had taken his baby and what they planned and doing with her. But if he did, who knew what this person would do to him? Or, far worse, do to Griffin? He couldn’t risk it. Couldn’t risk anything else bad happening to his little Sweet Bean.

But as the man who had dragged him out of the closet stared at him unnervingly, Cisco felt his resolve crumble into pieces. He leaned forward to the best of his ability. “Where’s Griffin? What did you do to her? Did you hurt her?”

The man waved his hand and started to pace back and forth in front of Cisco. “That’s none of your concern. Wherever she is, you don’t have to worry about her any longer.”

Cisco’s breath caught in his throat and his heart skipped a beat. “Did you hurt her?! She-she’s just a baby, of course she’s my concern, you can’t-!”

The man kept pacing. “Tell me, boy, how many more of those creatures do you have?”

“Only Griffin,” Cisco lied after a moment of silence. “She’s the only one.”

His interrogator stopped pacing and turned around to smack Cisco hard across the cheek. The engineer’s face stung from the force of the slap as the man leaned away from him and put his hands back behind his back. “Try again. We know that you have at least two; our security cameras saw the blue one escaping from Mr. Snart. Now tell me, how many more of them are there? Do  _ not _ make me ask a third time, boy, or you’ll find that there is more than one way to make you talk.”

Cisco didn’t say anything. This guy could do whatever he wanted to him, as long as he didn’t touch a single one of Griffin’s lovely gold scales.

The man sighed and pulled something out of his pocket. In a second, there was a blade to Cisco’s throat.

Cisco froze, heart pounding in his ears, as the tip of the knife pressed into his skin hard enough to make a small bead of blood trickle down his neck.  _ They won’t kill me,  _ he assured himself silently.  _ He won’t kill me. He needs me alive in order to tell them where the other dragons are. They need me alive. _

“I won’t tell you anything,” Cisco rasped out. “I’ll never tell you anything about the dragons.  _ Never.  _ You can do whatever you want to me, anything that you like, but you’ll never get me to talk.”

The man’s shoulders shook with laughter, driving the knife deeper into Cisco’s windpipe. “Brave words will only get you so far, little boy. Fine then. If you won’t tell me about the beasts, perhaps you’ll find that discussing the wondrous weapons that we watched you make Mr. and Ms. Snart is more your taste, hmm?”

Cisco snapped his mouth shut. No. Nobody would ever get him to make something like that ever again. That had been one of his biggest mistakes in his entire life the first time, and one of his worst memories the second. And he certainly wasn’t going to tell someone who had kidnapped him and threatened to kill him and one of his babies. The Snart siblings weren’t there to threaten his brother this time, and he was going to keep his mouth shut.

The man sighed and stepped away, folding the knife back up onto itself. He pocketed it and shook his head with mock sympathy, although the menacing gleam in his eyes told an entirely different story.

“I was hoping that you would choose the easy way, boy,” he sighed. The man pulled out a… Camera? Why would he want a-Cisco screwed up his eyes against the flash of bright light. As he blinked spots out of his eyes, the man smirked down at him. “Before we start sending pieces of you back to your family, we’ll give them a little bit of warning.”

The man untied Cisco from the chair and dragging him back off down the hallway. The engineer looked around for any way to tell if he recognized the place, but his head still hurt and he had no idea where he was. As he was tossed back onto the floor inside of what Cisco now realized was a closet, the man smirked down at him. “Unfortunately, your skills rule out removing one or two of your fingers. But I’ve found that you don’t need your legs in order to build things.”

He stuffed the gag back inside Cisco’s mouth before the man could protest and then tied the blindfold back on. Something slammed into Cisco’s ribs, and he doubled over, wheezing, as more blows rained down on his head and back and limbs. 

For a while he felt like it would never end, and then finally Cisco heard the door slam shut and the click of a lock. He shuddered and closed his eyes behind the gag.

The next time that they came for him, he’d try to fight for all he was worth.

* * *

Griffin flattened herself to the bottom of her prison. She’d been trapped inside of it for a long time, waiting for the front to open so that she could wreak havoc on the people who had trapped her and Fire-Father.

The world outside of the crate had been rumbling and shaking, just like when Fire-Father and Golden-Enemy were taking Stormy-Enemy, Mist-Enemy, Gloweyes-Enemy, and the other one to the place where Golden-Enemy tried to take Mushu away. Maybe they were inside of something similar to what they had been riding in that time? All that Griffin knew was that she did  _ not  _ like it. Not at all.

So when the front of her crate opened up, she lunged forwards in a burst of angry claws and flashing teeth.

But her paws landed on empty air. Griffin hissed in confusion and spun around with her tail lashing. Where were the enemies? Did they think that they could escape her anger? She would find them, and she’d find Fire-Father, and then she would make them regret ever coming after either of them. Especially if Griffin found out that they had taken any other humans or dragons and imprisoned them as well. Then there would be no force on earth that could stop her wrath.

So where were they?

Griffin’s crate had opened into an empty cement room with absolutely nothing inside of it except for a black tube thing in the upper corner near the ceiling. There wasn’t even another door. Griffin’s crate was the only way in or out as far as the dragon could see. At least the room was bigger than the tiny crate, although not really by very much. Griffin was just grateful that at least her wings had room so that they could spread. They hadn’t had that luxury inside of the cramped cage.

But  _ where _ was Fire-Father?

Griffin started to pace back and forth quicker and quicker as she grew more and more worried for her father’s fate. Had they hurt him? Trapped him? K-killed him?

She snarled and glared at one of the cement walls.  _ “If you hurt Fire-Father, I will never, ever forgive you. You’ll never be able to escape our revenge. My siblings and I will hunt you down to the edges of the earth.” _

There was no reply, not that Griffin was really expecting one to come. Human’s couldn’t understand her, and the ones like Fire-Father that tried to weren’t evil enough to take her and her father away.

That was when Griffin’s sharp ears picked up a low groaning sound that ground deeper and deeper into her head. She reached up and tried to paw at her ears in an attempt to block it out, but abandoned the fruitless endeavor when she saw what was happening to the crate that she had been trapped inside of to cause the horrendous noise in the first place.

It was  _ moving.  _ Moving away from the door, revealing that there was a person there. A person that didn’t smell familiar at all, which meant that Griffin was going to attack them.

So she did.

As the golden caramel dragon sprang forwards with her paws outstretched and her claws gleaming, she spread her wings open to give the full effect of fear. That turned out to be a mistake, because it made her shimmering body an easier target for the man. Who turned out to be holding something very bad that smelled like smoke and the lightning that trailed Sparks-Brother when he ran. He jabbed it upwards into her stomach, and Griffin keened in pain and surprise.

She crashed down to the floor and curled up around the wounded area, trying to protect the rest of her body from the bad weapon. The man snapped his fingers, and then suddenly there were lots of people pinning her down to the floor and keeping her from moving. Griffin tried to raised her head up off of the ground, but the same human that had hit her in the stomach with the crackling thing pushed down firmly on her muzzle and kept it held down to the floor. When the young female dragon attempted to open her mouth to bite him, he clipped something around her face and left it there so that she couldn’t open it.

Griffin writhed furiously and tried to throw the humans off. No, no, this was  _ bad _ , they were bad, she wanted to go home! These people were hurting her, hurting Fire-Father, and she did  _ not _ like them at all.

A woman who was holding one of her wings to the ground ran her finger across Griffin’s spines. “It’s really a rather lovely creature.”

“I know,” the man by her head who had put the muzzle on her agreed, “it’s a shame we’re going to sell it. But that will make it even more valuable-look at its scales! Once they’re properly polished up, they’ll shine like gold!”

Griffin growled around the muzzle and tried to lash her tail, which was also being pinned down. She didn’t  _ want  _ to be sold! She wanted to stay with Fire-Father! Didn’t these people realize that? Didn’t they care at all about what she wanted? No, of course not. Of course they didn’t. They had taken her away from her family and kept her trapped in that tiny crate and done who-knew-what to Fire-Father. Of course they didn’t care about what either of them wanted.

“Should we start doing that now?” The woman asked. “I know that we weren’t supposed to start until you gave the go-ahead.”

The man smiled. “Yes, we’ll start now. That way everything will be ready in time for the auction. We want our products looking presentable, after all.”

The next hour or so (although it felt like forever to Griffin) was full of loud noises and rough scrubbing and polishing. Fire-Father, when he polished their scales, did it nice and gently and full of kindness. But  _ these _ bad people kept her pinned down the entire time, only letting her stand back up when they wanted to blast her with the hose. If she tried to rise to her feet before that, they would hit her with the painful sparks weapon again until she gave up.

All that Griffin hoped for was that she wouldn’t be taken away from Fire-Father, but that was looking less and less likely with each passing moment.

* * *

Cisco stiffened when he heard the door to the closet that he was locked inside of start to open, the hinges creaking slowly. When the guy had shoved him back inside, he’d forgotten to do Cisco’s ankles all of the way with the zipties, so they weren’t properly attached to themselves and each other. Cisco had been able to get his legs free through wiggling and squirming and a lot of uncomfortable contorting, and had rolled himself up onto his feet in preparation.

He wasn’t just going to let himself get dragged off to be tortured without a fight.

(They had taken his shoes, something that he had noticed when he first woke up. And that guy, whoever he was, had said that they were going to send pieces of him back to his family. They were going to go after his toes and feet first, weren’t they? Oh god.)

So when the door opened all of the way (or at least when he thought that it had, considering that he was still blindfolded), Cisco threw himself at the person who was opening it.

Instead of being hit in the face or stabbed or something, the person caught Cisco carefully and pulled the blindfold off of his face. “Cisco? Cisco, it’s me!”

Cisco immediately stopped fighting and stared at his friend’s familiar face. Or at least part of it, considering that he was still wearing the cowl. “Barry? I’m sorry, I thought that you were… One of them.”

“It’s fine,” Barry dismissed. He frowned at Cisco worriedly. “Are you okay? You’re bleeding, and you’ve been missing for two days. Have they given you and food or water?”

Cisco ignored Barry’s concern and looked past him into the hallway beyond. “Where’s Griffin? Did you get her? Is she okay? What did they do to her?”

Barry set a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. “Cisco…”

Cisco’s brain caught up with his mouth as he realized that there was no golden dragon in the hallway, and a look of regret on Barry’s face. “No. You got her. You  _ had _ to have gotten her.” When Barry didn’t reply, Cisco started shouting. “No, you have to get her! We have to find her! She’s all alone and-I’m  _ not  _ going to let another one of my babies get hurt again! I’m  _ not!” _

Barry grabbed his shoulders and forced Cisco to look him in the eyes. “Hey. We’ll find her, alright? I promise I’ll find her. But first we need to take you back to STAR Labs, alright? You’re dehydrated and hungry and you might even have a concussion, so Caitlin definitely needs to take a look at you. But I’ll find her. I swear that I’ll find her.”

Cisco squirmed in an attempt to get rid of his concerned friend, but it only made his various injuries hurt even worse. “No, you don’t understand! They said that she wasn’t my concern anymore! And they knew that I had more than just Griffin! They knew about Saphira! Th-they knew about the guns that I built for the Snarts! I have to-I have to-”

_ “You _ have to go back to STAR Labs and get patched up,” Barry said firmly. He scooped the smaller man up bridal style, ignoring Cisco’s struggling as well as the guilt that he was leaving Griffin behind. “I’ll look for Griffin, I promise. There are plenty of other people here, and they’ll probably tell me something if I tell them that they’re going to jail. They won’t get away with this, Cisco. I promise.”

The speedster took off for STAR Labs, carrying his friend with him.

Later, when Barry came back and…  _ Convinced _ the people that he had captured (perhaps a little bit more  _ violently _ than was necessary, but they had tortured Cisco! They deserved it!) to tell him what they had done with Griffin, he discovered that they had been planning on selling her at an auction. It only took a little bit more  _ convincing _ to make them tell him where that auction was supposed to be.

But by the time he arrived there, the auction was over and Griffin had been sold.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're confused about the colors/sizes:
> 
> Vermithrax-Grey with black horns, spines, etc. The largest.  
> Mushu-Varying shades of green.  
> Saphira-Varying shades of blue.  
> Griffin-Golden amber with amber horns, spines, etc. The smallest.  
> Smaug-Varying shades of red.


End file.
